#rem; a deceitful mother

[firstplant]

((ic tags))

vis; born in an electrical storm

aes; lilies grown in vases

abt; behavioral observation

hc; scientific documentation

ic; used to be so kind

crack; named after the coil not the car

dash com; surveillance footage

knives; o brother of mine

vash; how to be a human being

rem; a deceitful mother

conrad; youre just another edison

[max-is-tired]

Everything (everything will be just fine)

Pairing: established background Anxceitmus, the fic itself is Virgil-centric

Characters: Virgil Sanders, Deceit Sanders, Remus Sanders

Words: 1.304

Warnings: one (1) light sexual innuendo, deadnaming, misgendering, controlling parents, swearing, sympathetic Remus & Deceit

Notes: man I keep posting these fics later and later uh nsakjscncjk anyway, have some Virgil being confident and standing up to his parents, heck yeah. Also, big thanks to @figurative-siren-song for the prompt, I sure had lots of fun writing it <3

Commission me!!  Buy me a coffee!!  Join my Discord server!!  AO3!!

To say that Virgil was anxious would have been an understatement.

Every nerve of his body felt as if it was on fire, his heart beating wildly in his chest as he fought with everything he had not to break down right in the middle of the living room -there was no way his parents were going to miss that, and then he’d have to explain why exactly he was having an anxiety attack and he really did not want to do that.

Not yet at least, not until he was out of the house and ready to leave. If anything were to happen before that, Virgil was 99% sure things would not end up great. For him, anyway.

His phone buzzed in his hoodie pocket, startling him out of his thoughts.

[HissHissMotherfucker] hey, hows it going over there?

[GreenGoblinMan] ik i already offered but if you need me to i still have enough time to come over

[GreenGoblinMan] my morning star and i are great at emotional support :{D

Virgil snorted, shaking his head with a smile -god, why did he have to fall in love with these two dorks?

[RacoonMan] skjcndkjcn

[RacoonMan] we’re about to start loading up the trunk, so the Talk hasnt happened yet

[RacoonMan] and i think ill take a raincheck on that one, rem. i dont want to have to bail you out again

[GreenGoblinMan] awww D}:

[HissHissMotherfucker] dont worry spider, ill make sure he doesnt try to sneak out

[HissHissMotherfucker] do let us know when youre on your way though, we’ve got nightmare before christmas and black cauldron all set up and ready to go

[GreenGoblinMan] and i made grilled cheese!!! the edible kind, dee didnt let me play with any fun ingredients this time

[RacoonMan] you guys know im not big on cheesy shit

[RacoonMan] but god i love you a lot right now

[GreenGoblinMan] ilyt vevee!! and you can show us just how much you love us when you get here :{D

[HissHissMotherfucker] aaaaaaaand moment gone

Virgil huffed out another small laugh, bringing up the keyboard to type out an answer, only to be interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Quickly, he slipped his phone back into his pocket, taking in a deep breath as he steeled himself for what was about to come.

“Anne!” his mother called, stepping into the living room with a big smile. “Are you ready, dear?”

Virgil barely let himself wince at the mention of his deadname, far too used to it by now -if everything went according to plan, after today he wasn’t going to hear that name ever again anyway.

“Yup, all packed up and ready to be loaded in the car.”

Virgil’s dad nodded in understanding, the last of the boxes from upstairs still perched up in his arms.

“Very well, then let’s get started,” he said, gesturing with his head towards the front door they’d opened beforehand.

Virgil nodded, crouching down to take a few boxes of his own. Immediately, his mother shot forward, resting her hand on his forearm with a frown.

“Honey, let your dad handle the heavy lifting,” she said, voice sickeningly sweet, “that’s not something a girl should have to deal with.”

“Well, thank fuck I’m not a girl then,” Virgil wanted to say, feeling the familiar irritation bubble up in his gut. Still, he kept silent, biting the inside of his cheek until the urge passed.

Just a little more. He had to deal with all of this just a little bit more.

“Don’t worry mom, I got this,” he said instead, carefully shrugging her hand away. “Besides, if I let dad do all the work then I’d risk being late and getting stuck in the rush hour traffic, which I really don’t want to deal with.”

His mother huffed but relented, following Virgil out of the door as he went to settle the boxes on the asphalt beside the open trunk.

“I still don’t understand why you wouldn’t want us to come with, honestly,” she kept pressing, crossing her arms in obvious displeasure. “We can help you set your room up, make sure everything is alright…”

And that’s exactly why I don’t want you to come, Virgil thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes as he walked back towards the house.

It didn’t take them long to load the whole car up, and before Virgil knew it, everything was set up and ready to go.

Well, time to get this show on the road, he guessed.

“We can still come with you, you know that right?” his father remarked for the fifth time in less than an hour. “Your college is not too far away, after all.”

“At least text us once you get there,” his mother huffed, “and remember, no pit stops or something of the like. Drive straight to your dorm, you understand me, young girl?”

This time, Virgil did roll his eyes, walking around the car towards the driver’s seat. “Don’t worry mom, the only place I want to be right now is my apartment.”

Virgil could almost pinpoint the moment his words registered for his parents, instinctively tightening his hand around his phone as his heart started to speed up again.

The device buzzed and he looked down again, seeing the new message blinking up at him from the screen.

[HissHissMotherfucker] you can do this, Virgil. We believe in you

Virgil smiled, his grip loosening as a sudden surge of confidence filled his chest. With Dee and Remus by his side, he felt as if he could overcome anything.

“You’re going to a college dorm, Anne, not an apartment,” his mother pointed out, eyes reduced to slits as she dared him to contradict her.

Virgil met her gaze head-on, the most unafraid he’d ever felt around his parents.

“Nope,” he said, popping the ‘p’, “I’m going to my apartment, where my boyfriends are waiting for me. I told you I didn’t want to go to college, not my fault you didn’t listen.”

“And what, you’re going to throw away your future like that?!” his father asked, looking absolutely flabbergastered. “You need your college degree, you can’t just throw away years of work and savings because you want to be rebellious!”

“No, you were the one who wanted me to go to college!” Virgil countered, ignoring the way his heart jumped in his chest when his father raised his voice. “I told you I wasn’t interested, but you never listened! Because what do I know, right? It’s not like this is my life we’re talking about or anything! And you can keep that money, I don’t need it -I have my own, and a job waiting just for me as soon as I settle in my new home.”

“You’re making a mistake,” his father warned, voice low and angry in a way that made Virgil’s stomach instinctively twist in fear. “Don’t think you’ll be able to just crawl back here for forgiveness when your little plan blows up.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’m not planning on it,” Virgil seethed, finally entering the car and starting the engine.

“Don’t you dare drive out of this driveway, young lady!” his mother shouted, slamming her hand on the car seat on Virgil’s right. “No daughter of mine will go waste her life with such bad influences!”

“Well, thank god I’m not your daughter then,” Virgil shot back, before pressing his foot over the accelerator and finally, finally leaving everything behind.

Once he reached a red light at an intersection, he let out a relieved laugh, resting his head on the steering wheel. Grinning, he slipped out his phone, typing out a quick text before taking the first turn towards his new life.

[RacoonMan] get ready to unload an entire car worth of things fuckers

[RacoonMan] im coming

[alchemist-shizun]

Seirios

Read on Ao3!

Check out the wonderful artwork by @jajathelivingmeme !! She’s a delight and a talented friend 💜

Word Count: 22,331

Characters: Roman, Virgil, Deceit, Remus, Logan, Patton, Emile, Remy, Thomas

Pairing(s): Prinxiety, Loceit, Remile

Warning(s): minor character death and death mentions, implied bad parenting (minor), slight violence, not physical, unrequited romance, kissing, crying, panic attack, ptsd, blood, face and eye injury, scar mention, knives mention, hospital mention, very slight gore (just in an emotional description), insomnia mention, Passing out, apparent major characters death (tell me if I missed anything!)

Summary: It's hard for kids to fall asleep. It's especially hard for Remus when he can't help but stare at the night sky, mesmerized. That's why his guardian and uncle Janus decided to tell him a bed time story about two stars' lives and adventures along with the Sun and the Moon. Janus surely didn't expect for the storytelling to lead them to meet the local astronomer, Logan, not to mention develop a stronger bond with him. The best bit? All of his stories were true. Meet Janus Hydra, a fallen shooting star become human, and come listen to the events he witnessed while in space.

A/N: This is my entry for @ts-storytime ! A big thank you to @i-am-overly-complicated for the moral support and some suggestions, and to @crazydemigod666 for beta reading the fic, love ya bud. I worked super hard on this, I hope you all enjoy! Taglist will be added in a reblog.

✾

❝ It's you, it's you, it's all for you,

Everything I do.

I tell you all the time,

Heaven is a place on earth with you. ❞

He knew nothing of the sky.

He would look out of the window at night and glance up at the starry empyrean, wondering how it was possible that his mother had been part of those celestial entities.

And maybe, now that she was gone, he hoped she was part of them again, the stardust she had left behind now scattered across the universe.

« Remus? » his uncle Janus knocked on the door to his room and peeked inside. « Ready to settle down for the night? »

The kid sighed and stepped away from the window he was resting his arms and head on; sleeping was the part of the day he hated the most, there were so many things awaiting him, ideas in his head he wanted to get out in the real world, how could he simply lay dead doing absolutely nothing for eight hours straight?

Resting was too boring and Remus could think of more than a few things to do in its place.

Janus took a couple of steps in his nephew's direction and held out a hand to him like he was doing a grand gesture.

« Is the little duke in the mood for his sleeping duty? »

« Don't think so. » Remus shrugged and glanced at his bed with disinterest.

He pretended he didn't notice his uncle's small sigh and that expression that always seemed to show veiled compassion whenever the kid wouldn't comply.

Janus thought that Remus was a wonderful child, probably the strongest one he'd ever met, there was nothing he was not grateful for when it came to him: only a couple of years had passed from Angy's death, along with his father leaving him behind right after, and there wasn't a day in which he had let himself feel defeated.

After all, Janus had realized that he was the one to really need the other during that period.

Yet there was that one little detail Remus couldn't get himself behind, which was the need to lie your body down and prepare yourself for the following day. He could struggle all he wanted, but there was no way for either of them to find a solution.

Until Janus posed that fateful question in his mind: what would Angy do in this situation?

He raised his eyebrows as the best option surfaced.

Remus watched him tap his finger on his chin, looking around the room for a seat until he brought one in himself, placing it next to the bed the eight-year-old was now sitting on.

Anguis Hydra had been a shooting star in the sky and a writer on Earth when she fell along with her brother, and if there was something her brother knew best was that the finest solution to any problem she had found was storytelling.

Her readers had given her the nickname of “Angst Hydra”, for how much pain they felt thanks to her books.

Little did they know the stories were real: stories based off of other stars encounters they had had during their travels, her memory her sharpest tool.

« Did Angy ever tell you about the most luminous star you can see from the Earth's sky? »

Janus saw Remus's little eyebrows furrow, sign of a notion that was new to him. He brought his legs to his chest as he leaned on his pillow.

« It's actually a binary system, which is composed of two stars orbiting around each other. »

« Is it the … Sirius system? » Remus seemed to recall, his eyes narrowed in uncertainty.

Janus nodded. « Good job. So, all earthlings know about them is astronomical details, the usual research stuff, right? »

The kid made an agreement noise, curious to where that was gonna land.

« They call them Sirius A and B, but as you may expect there's a lot more into it. » he leaned in, his voice barely above a whisper. « Your mum and I had the occasion to meet them and witness their life events. » he could already notice the excitement growing in Remus's eyes. « So, want to listen to their fairytale? »

« Will there be chaos? »

« You have no idea. » both of them grinned as the kid settled in the only right way he knew: wrapping himself up in a blanket burrito and using his pillow as a seat.

« I'm ready! »

« Keep in mind that it's a long story, so we won't be able to cover all of it tonight, alright? »

Remus nodded despite defeated; Janus, on the other hand, knew that if he managed to get him hooked on the tale, he could have made his nephew look forward to bedtime and made things relatively easier.

A win-win situation.

The man turned off the room's lights only to switch on the bedside lamp with green LEDs.

« Alright little duke. » he moved in a comfortable position. « It's time for you to learn of the dance of the stars during the sunset, the moment the sun and the moon meet to leave each other's place to one another. »

Remus had never heard of such a thing, it was a simple tradition his mother and his uncle never took part of as their star selves happened to be constantly moving around with no time for grand events.

« But let's start from the beginning: let me introduce you to our beloved protagonists. »

✾✾✾✾

There were two notions stars were born with: the concept of the moon and the one of the sun.

They were aware there were multiple ones depending on which solar system they were close to, which planet they were taking into account.

But if there was a third piece of knowledge Virgil was certain of, it was that ever since he'd seen him from his little spot, he had been in love with the sun.

Such a titanic star shielding his own much smaller one.

When he was little, he'd look up at the sun and find a hero, a role model he had always been eager to follow: now, whenever he did that, he longed for contact and the revelation of his gorgeous self he wasn't yet able to meet from afar.

Casual passerby stars or nebulae narrated their encounters with the sun, encounters of which Virgil only grew jealous.

His admiration could only grow as much as he couldn't even fathom the grandiosity of those meetings, as he still wondered what was the intensity with which the sun's eyes glowed, the warmth of his protection and his benevolence.

« You want me to tell you about Emile, little one? » Patton was one of those nebulae that had been already circulating for a while and were old enough to attend a very important event that a myriad of stars took part in.

He hadn't quite realized why Virgil was so eager to meet the sun, but hadn't questioned it once since he'd met him.

« Well there are quite a few tales I can tell you about him! »

And so he did and Virgil found himself hanging onto every single word that escaped the other's mouth.

The little star could do nothing but wait for more stories as he grew along the space around him, hoping that maybe one day his orbit would find him.

Everything was going to change once he'd reached stability and joined the

Sunset's Ball.

✾✾✾✾

« The what? » Remus's sleepy eyes questioned Janus.

« One thing at a time, Rem. » the adult brushed some locks from Remus's forehead. « I'll get there later. But first, there's someone else you need to acknowledge. »

✾✾✾✾

Roman had always been aware of his star title: Sirius A. Thanks to that, he had also always known how he was part of a binary system.

Ever since then, he had been more than eager to meet the other star of his system, dreaming of one day finally finding a friend in them, like he had found in Patton, who would always bring news of Virgil.

He had learnt his name thanks to the nebula and mentioned it in his thoughts and conversations like he was a lifelong friend.

Roman's star was bigger and brighter than Sirius B, greatly shielding its vision.

He felt lonely during his growth and stabilization, anyone would have been intimidated by his star dimensions, therefore the visits paid to him were far less than the ones reserved for Virgil.

Yet he would spend his days trying to get someone's attention and, eventually, he'd stop to look down at the other star and wonder when their meeting would come.

Would it come at all?

Star dances were commonly known, but many happened during the day, so one wouldn't be sure of who they were going to end up with until their very first Ball.

That type of dance was the only one performed by stars, it occurred daily and it was a celebration of either sunset or sunrise, the moments in which the Sun and the Moon met and exchanged greetings, only to swap places with each other.

Only the most important stars could participate, once  stability was reached and they were certain that they would've caused no harm to others: the floating palace in which they took place had been the same for millennia and not a single wrong move had been done to endanger it, it had now become a pillar in their history.

Reaching that place was kind of a rite of passage for the stars and proof of respectability for Roman since, compared to the Sun, he and some other stars were far bigger.

Yet, humans had praised the Moon and his partner as actual gods in various religions and cultures, along with other planets they had acknowledged.

So the bigger celestial objects resonated that their importance still varied and wasn't related to how they presented, but rather to who they were, thus they learnt to stand their ground.

And even so, Roman's true goal had always been a different one.

He was going to meet Virgil, one way or another.

✾✾✾✾

Remus's head hit his uncle's arm lightly, a tiny bump against Janus's sleeve; the man took a break from his storytelling after noticing that the boy's eyes were closed, having finally resigned to the heaviness of sleep, smiled to himself and tucked his nephew in bed.

He followed his nightly routine as well which consisted of watching tv until he passed out and woke up way too early for his schedule, only to go back to sleep in his room for a couple more hours.

If only that night had gone exactly like that.

Janus had touched his mattress at around the same indecent time he did normally and fallen asleep minutes after.

Flashes happened and now hands were on his face, twisted and disappeared, turning into a pair of green eyes that were looking fondly at another woman. They laughed and held hands and he had a knot in his stomach as he hugged him a little too tightly. And Janus was breathing, then not, then sobbing, then he knew her happiness came first because the world was so cruel to him. Then Janus smiled, then he didn't, he held his breath as she stopped altogether and then the green-eyed man left. And he?

He woke up.

Barely three hours had passed and he was already sitting up, hugging himself and resting his face on his knees, his expression contorted in a multitude of unpleasantries.

That was not possible.

He was over that, he was over him, there was no need for his subconscious to resurface the majority of his life's regrets so far.

There was definitely no need to remember, to say the least.

What he was gonna do now was going back to sleep and never think about that dream ever again.

Of course, he actually laid awake to stare at the ceiling blankly until his alarm went off, which he turned off automatically, solely moving his arm.

He had looked into the mirror once he had gotten to his bathroom and forced a smile on, but the usual sparkles stars emanated when happy didn't surround his skin.

When he had gotten Remus to school, the kid had pointed out how darker his eye-bags had become lately.

« Can I get matching ones? »

« No, lil duke, better not. » you're gonna end up like this eventually as an adult.

Janus was sick of the constant pitiful glances he got from his co-workers when he had a bad day, the whispers they passed between each other, the fake respectability they kept when he was in a low mood.

None of them personally knew Janus on a close level.

So, as he thought, none of them could have felt entitled to initiate a conversation on a low-key personal topic.

Yet, there a man was, sliding a card on his desk.

« He's a good therapist, I've heard. If you … you know, have any troubles or if your nephew- »

Not even a glance at the name and Janus's insides were revolting. « We don't need it. » a tight-lipped smile set on his face. « Thank you anyway. »

The man almost ran away at that, embarrassed and frantically looking back at his own work position.

Janus took the card in his hands.

Those same innocent and achingly beautiful green eyes stared back at him; Clyde Davis had been his brother in law for as long as Anguis had been alive, once on Earth.

He didn't mean for his memories to overcome him yet again, but here he was, almost blinded near the day of the death's anniversary.

His eyes fixated on the nothingness right above the floor as thoughts flew by his mind: Angy and him had just fallen on Earth, somehow adjusting to the humans' costumes in no time.

They had some slip-ups when it came to ethics and morality, that was why when it came to the realization of feelings the two brothers had different experiences.

Who would've thought humans were so idiotic to banish certain natural forms of love such as the ones not stereotypically between a man and a woman? (the issues on gender identity and sex were also introduced to them on that planet, as stars lacked the concept despite their anthropomorphic forms)

Who would've thought Janus had to find out from the news right after realizing he had gotten a crush for the same man his sister had fallen in love with?

Sure, it was easier to let her happiness come first that way, but it didn't mean his feelings were hurting any less.

If anything, he was constantly mixing joy and guilt, some sort of bittersweet ending that didn't sit right with his emotions, but it did with his conscience.

Wrong wasn't how he felt at Anguis and Clyde's wedding, but maybe more relieved as he was sure that way his love could've dissipated.

At least he hoped so, especially since he was going to live alone from then on.

He thought distance had worked, but then Remus happened and he visited more often than ever, especially since the boy resembles the two people he loved the most.

The circumstances didn't help him, but he had learnt to disguise how he felt better.

Janus thought nothing could've shattered that nice picture.

And then Anguis fell ill.

Some kind of immunodeficiency, a state that saw her body shut down as a star that slowly died and stopped lighting up the night sky.

He had seen her eyes turn black, he had known all along what it meant, but he did not want to accept it. Only deny it to himself as he was now living at her place, helping out when he could.

When the fatal day occurred, Janus, Clyde and Remus were standing by her as her skin got almost colder than the bed she was in.

It hadn't sparkled in too long.

She knew what was going on, she had intimated them to say goodbye as much as they didn't want to; she looked unfairly defeated.

As the time struck, her body stiffened and everything left of her was stardust that emanated its final glow.

Janus's memory had blocked out everything that came after, especially the funeral.

Of course, he couldn't have forgotten the day Clyde came to him, his eyes now dull and distant, He wanted to leave, start a new life and leave behind everything else because he could not bear to look at Remus or him and be reminded of Anguis.

Clyde asked him to take Remus's custody and for the first time Janus had wanted to punch his face rather than kiss him.

But he had instead accepted, not out of empathy, but because he had become so lost that he wasn't sure his reality was so truthful anymore.

Remus had been a blessing, saving him from negativity more than he could with himself. He was a wonder, that kid.

Janus had zoned out for so long that he came back to Earth only as he was sitting on an armchair at home, while his nephew played with some toys right behind him.

« Hey. Did you know you're a wonderful kid? »

« I thought that was obvious. Also, gross, I'd rather be called stinky! » he hadn't even looked up from his creation.

Janus snorted. « Of course. » he made to get up and make dinner.

Later in the evening, Remus had climbed onto the counter and stared at Janus, who was leaning against the furniture while drinking some warm tea.

« I'm going to the astronomy museum tomorrow! »

« I know. »

« Don't you think it's time for a story then? »

The man giggled. « Are you bribing me? »

« You've been brooding all day, uncle! » he jumped back down, and hugged his waist only to pull him out of the kitchen.

Janus did his best not to stumble. « Alright, alright, we need some time-out time. » he picked his nephew up and in a minute they were settled for their storytelling.

« So- »

« Did dad show up? »

He fell silent, baffled by the sudden question. He gave Remus a puzzled look.

« You always act absent when something related to him happens. » the kid explained.

Who gave an eight-year-old the right to be that smart?

Janus opened and closed his mouth several times. « Well- Not exactly. » he scratched the back of his neck. « They talked about him. I think I might have gotten … triggered? » he wasn't sure whether or not that was the right term to use. But he did feel numb for the majority of the day, despite the flashbacks.

« Well, fuck him. »

« Rem- »

« No, fuck that guy. » Remus raised his voice more, but Janus didn't find it in himself to stop him. « he just dropped his burdens on you and left like a coward! Fuck that bullshit! » his face was red with anger.

« I know. But dear, you're not a burden. »

« I don't even care if I am for him. »

« Let me finish. » Janus used the calmest tone possible to balance out the other's upset. « As much as you don't agree with what he's done, you have to remember everyone's got their own way to cope. »

He sighed, eyes fixed to the floor. « In his case, he could've probably been a bad parent for you and decided to trust you with me rather than himself. He knows I love you just as much, so he wanted you to be in a certainly safe environment. »

Remus wasn't still entirely convinced.

« The thing is, he feared not being able to raise you the way you deserve. You still have all the right to be angry at him, of course. But you need to know that you didn't do anything bad for this all to happen, okay? »

The kid bit the inside of his mouth. « Yeah, I know. You've told me plenty of times. »

« Repetita iuvant. And honestly you've been of help more than he would imagine, so … yeah fuck him. »

The duo snickered and gave each other a matching mischievous glance.

« But seriously, no swearing like a sailor until you're older, okay? At least not in front of other adults, you know how they get easily impressed. »

« Ugh, they never let me do anything fun. »

« Capitalism. »

« What? »

« Nothing, let's carry on with the story. Tonight, Virgil and Roman are going to finally meet. »

✾✾✾✾

Roman was ecstatic.

He had been accompanied by Patton and they had now made their entrance in the ballroom.

The space looked fancy and highly decorated, white, gold and blue themes coloured every object, glistening with a bit of purple here and there. It felt like being in the gods' lair, high columns sustained a roof for a space much bigger than its guests.

A pompous environment that suggested any trait related to space and stars.

Everyone was dressed up for the occasion, he felt like he was in the middle of one of those royal dances humans had to entertain themselves.

They all had a mask covering part of their face; it was a way of respecting the Sun and Moon as they had yet to arrive and would wear it as well until they took it off alongside everyone.

Clothes and masks were pretty much the same for everyone, changing based on the type of star you were, only the colours changed for everybody.

Roman was wearing crimson items; they often recalled the color of a star's eyes, like his case.

« Feeling nervous? » Patton was leading him toward their designated spot, he had previously offered his arm to Roman after showing off his sky-blue outfit.

« Kind of. Don't wanna mess up. But also what if they're not here? » Roman was already pulling at the hem of his sleeve.

« I'm sure they are. Normally binary systems are put together. I'll help you search! » Patton gave a warming smile that ushered the other not to worry too much.

« Should I go find a dance partner? » there was literally no etiquette to follow until the two main protagonists arrived.

The nebula noticed the initial discomfort in him. « That, or you can stay with me for now. »

Roman was about to reply in gratitude when he saw everyone move to the centre of the room, where he got by taking Patton's hand.

Alright, here we go.

The first part of the dance had the stars already dancing around the room while waiting; none told Roman there would have been partner changes.

He and Patton had just turned, their backs facing, when suddenly his hand touched another one and there he was spinning slowly with a stranger.

Roman had a pair of purple irises fixed in his own, on a stoic face they were decorating, his head slightly tilted.

« Hi. » he had tried, but he only saw the star's eyes look down, ignoring his greeting.

That made Roman feel defeated, little did he know the stranger's goal was another and that he couldn't lose time on uneventful conversation.

One of each star's hand was intertwined with the others'.

Should have Roman been stoic as well? Could they talk during the event? Was he being judged by the other guy?

Still, after seemingly searching into Roman for some sort of hint, the other star kept looking behind his shoulders, especially on the front door, which was decorated with complicated bass-relief motives.

Was he more interested into the room's details than meeting new people?

Roman glanced around for clues and his eyes met smiling and chatting couples, giving him the impression that he had been doing something wrong.

Until he met Patton's look again and he noticed the signals he was giving him.

“It's him”, his lips mouthed and it finally hit Roman when Patton motioned towards the other with his eyes.

Roman blinked in bewilderment and turned back to his partner only to see him let go of his hand, his back already facing him, without a single chance for him to speak some last words.

His focus shifted again when a different light glowed into the room, he heard the door starting to open and everyone was pushed at both opposite sides of the room.

A path was now created, like a little temporary corridor.

Finally, from either door, two figures started walking down the path, making it very clear on their identity: the Sun and Moon had made their entrance.

Gold and silver shining like they were the only things in existence, the two met halfway and joined hands, making the whole audience restart their own dance.

Roman's companion had changed and it was now a lady part of a system, her name was Zeta, but he couldn't help but think back at how close he had been to his discovery.

Everytime he caught a glimpse of him, he lost it, happening so often that Roman had been closer to interact with the Moon instead.

Patton had told him his name was Remy, while the Sun's was Emile and they were part of a particular solar system which contained planets such as Jupiter, Mars, or his favourite, Saturn.

He had also been told there were rumors behind the two's different clothing; Emile was rumored to wear gloves so he could protect others from his burning touch, while Remy was never seen without his sunglasses, probably because he would have gone severely injured if he had directly looked at the Sun.

Busying himself with the search for his system's second star, he almost didn't notice it when people started scattering and some went back to chatting.

Emile and Remy took off their masks alongside everyone and respectively put on glasses and sunglasses.

« Hey there! »

Roman turned. « Holy stars, Patton! I can't believe I almost had him. »

« Well, at least you know he's here now, right? » the nebula started looking around from his spot to search for Virgil again.

« Yeah, I hope it'll be easier to- »

« Found him. » Patton pointed at a few feet next to them, where their object of interest was sitting, attentively staring at something or someone.

Roman felt something in his chest click as soon as he was able to see his face clearly: he didn't know how to describe it, but he loved and absolutely loathed it at the same time.

He realized he had been holding his breath only after he deeply exhaled, making Patton raise an eyebrow.

« Are you going to say hello, or …? »

That was not ideal.

That was actually utterly terrible, how he felt drawn to the other and yet terrified at the same time, the intensity making it a seemingly impossible goal.

Despite the other being the infinitely smaller star, Roman was in awe, like he couldn't compare to him in any sort of way; the aura he gave off was too strong, so much that he seemed to know the secrets of the universe before anyone else.

Roman couldn't explain it, but he had to talk to him or else he would've probably combusted.

What had gotten into him? Did the realization of actually having the possibility of making friends with the other half of his binary system just hit him? … Would the other really agree to such a friendship?

He was afraid to answer that. They barely knew each other, anyway.

Roman started approaching him and felt his legs as heavy as lead, his tongue tied and all the conversations that he had prepared basically gone from his mind.

So many years of longing for this meeting only for it to go into shambles.

Yet, there he was, at last standing next to him.

« Greetings, the name's Roman. » he achieved a single apparently annoyed glance. He looked still … in search of something. « I was wondering whether you were the star entitled as Sirius B. »

Roman finally got a reaction out of him, a slick turn of the head in an impressed expression. « How would you know that? »

Roman grinned and moved one hand from behind his back. « Well, you see, » he started, theatrically bowing down just that necessary to still look him in the eyes. « It just so happens that I am Sirius A. »

✾✾✾✾

Janus was mimicking Roman's gesture as Remus watched in awe.

« Who knows what Virgil will say? »

« Hold it- What do you mean? » Remus sluggishly said with his cheek pressed against the pillow.

« I mean that it's late and you should rest before your little school trip, alright? »

The kid didn't look very convinced.

Janus tried again. « Also, I'm going to give you a mission for tomorrow. »

Remus's eyes lit up again. « What is it? »

« You're going to have to find the stars I've been telling you about. There's going to be a dark room full of projections; it's gonna be fun. »

His nephew let out a “Ooh” of understanding and admiration, already picturing what it could have looked like.

« Come on now, » Janus helped him set into bed and kissed his forehead, at which, like any other night, Remus commented with a “gross” and wiped at his skin.

It was their little routine before Janus himself started preparing for the night.

He was pacing around the living room when he could have sworn he had heard something moving right outside of his apartment's door; he stood there for a second, simply staring at the doorknob, expecting it to twist at any second.

Nothing came through and thus he went to sleep.

He really needed a relaxing bath first.

Janus knew something had been off as soon as he had woken up; the uneasiness from the night before still lingered, pressing down on his stomach.

He could not deal with this.

It was six a.m. again and he was staring at the cupboard in the bathroom.

No, it was fine. He was fine, he could do it on his own.

He breathed deeply and exited the room only to find a perky Remus already up and excited for his trip.

The kid smiled up at him. « Is breakfast ready yet? »

Janus forgot all about how he had woken up.

Merely an hour and a half later, Remus had been dropped off at the school bus after making sure he had everything he needed and that he was under the supervision of all the class' teachers.

He was still going up the stairs of the condominium, when he noticed a figure fidgeting and standing by his door.

Brown curls, green eyes and still impossibly gorgeous.

Janus's stomach did a triple flip and he didn't know if it was for delight or bitterness. Of course, his mind blanked as soon as Clyde acknowledged him.

« Hey, J. » the tone was unsure.

None had been allowed to call him that in years.

« It's been a while … »

« Indeed. » he responded sternly, almost petrified as he waited for the other to state the reason for his visit.

« Uhm, I … needed to get a thing I left here. »

« Here. »

« Yeah. »

Clyde was trying his best not to make everything awkward, but Janus was making it godawfully impossible.

The star didn't talk any further and simply turned the keys to unlock the door, stepping in and aside to let the other enter.

« Get what you need and leave. » he didn't make eye contact, or else he would have been fucked.

A distraction.

Janus went into the kitchen, busying himself with getting things ready for lunch, while Clyde headed for Remus's room; there was a photo album he needed to get after all, there was no way Remus would have wanted to keep pictures of a dad that had given up on him.

He picked up the album and turned the first couple of pages. Then more and more.

Remus had cut out Clyde's face from any picture in which he had appeared.

It was a hit to his heart, a well deserved one, but a hit nonetheless; he put the album back and headed for the door, but something pulled him back to Janus.

The star eyed him warily.

« Did you get it? »

« Not really, but- I figured it doesn't matter anymore. »

Janus made an uninterested noise without looking back up at him.

« If there's anything- »

« We don't need your help. »

Clyde's eyes fell to the floor, but he insisted and came closer to the other, standing at his side.

« I know it's kind of hypocritical but were you to find yourself in a difficult situation- »

« Hypocritical? » Janus scoffed, finally turning to him and glaring at him.

He wanted to drown.

« The only time my situation becomes difficult is when you are around. » he could feel his insides heating up.

« Listen I know you hate me now- »

Oh, was that guilt tripping? That was guilt tripping.

« That's the issue. Everytime I see you, I get reminded of the fact that I just … I don't actually hate you and it sucks, so please leave. » he felt like he was on the verge of either tears or a crisis out of exasperation.

« Janus … » Clyde dared to lift a hand as the other tried to focus back on cooking.

« Don't touch me. »

« Listen. » the man took Janus's wrist anyway with the sole purpose of trying to put some sense into him.

Janus tried to wiggle free from his grip. « I said- » until … « Ugh! » he did.

But his hand had jerked back right onto his cheek, causing the knife he was holding to leave a deep cut through his eye and cheek.

He dropped everything and held his head as a luminous substance flowed out of his cut.

Star's blood.

« Oh my- Oh god, I- »

« Get out! » he yelled one last time and could only hear Clyde's steps as he hurried away from him.

Now there was something interesting about stars: they had a really peculiar way of healing, so much that hospitals wouldn't understand their ways. So Janus ought to help himself.

He quickly washed the blood out of his hands and ran into his room before he could pass out, closed the windows and turned every light off.

By memory he found the little box he had hidden in the bedside table, a secret drawer.

He opened it and a blinding light illuminated the room. That was the light that belonged to him as a star; once you disguise yourself as a human you get to keep it in case of emergencies.

Janus felt heat coming back to his body and pain retreating from his brain.

When he closed it everything felt normal again, despite the tiredness from what had just happened.

Then he looked in the mirror.

A terrible scar ran from above his eyebrow, down his eye and onto his cheek, still so fresh and yet … It looked like a childhood one. And he could still perfectly see.

He didn't want to deal with that right then: he went back to work on his meal and decided on a relaxation day as he didn't have work and really needed a rest.

All he wanted to do was scream and probably cry, but he decided on staring at the ceiling from the living room's couch.

By the time he woke up, he had to go pick up Remus from the school trip, which now required him to put on concealer on his face.

His nephew didn't mention anything about it around others.

But he wasn't certainly stupid.

Once in the car, he spoke up. « What happened to your face? »

« Can't a man wear make-up? »

« Yes, but you've never done It before. And you're not in love so there's none to make yourself pretty for. »

« Ouch, now I'm not pretty? » Janus chuckled.

Remus pointed a finger at him. « You're insecure! »

When will children stop being so brutally honest?

Once home, Janus went straight for the bathroom to wipe the concealer away. « You see, little duke, » he called from there. « Sometimes you don't want to explain things. Sometimes you can't. » he then went back to him and showed his scar.

« What happened? »

« An accident. I recovered quickly with some remaining starry powers. »

The kid seemed to accept it, despite being skeptical.

« Can I get one too? I want to be like a dragon! »

« Dragons don't have scars, kid. » Janus tilted his head.

« They do! It's written in books, they have them all over their bodies. »

« Sweetie, those are scales. »

Remus considered for a second, his eyes fixated on a random spot.

« Uncle, I think my life is a lie. »

Janus finally laughed for real and they decided to leave the corridor for the more important conversation to happen in the living room; the kid started going on about the astronomy museum and all its wonders.

« And then there was that big constellations projector like you mentioned and it was beautiful. » Remus mimicked how he would've showed him in the room, as if the projections were in their apartment. « The scientist knew everything about them, he answered every question, uncle Jee I want to go back! »

Janus smiled the entire time, especially at how his nephew was now looking at him with literal sparkles in his eyes.

« Your birthday is around, isn't it? We could go back then. »

The kid started jumping around in excitement. « I want to visit everyday! I could sell lemonade like they do in cartoons and pay my ticket everyday! »

He giggled, while Remus kept coming up with different ways to assist himself. « I don't think that's likely, but we could visit often if that's what you'd like. »

« But Logan … » the other murmured sadly. « The star man ... »

Janus theatrically scoffed. « Excuse you, am I not enough of a star human myself? »

Remus stuck his tongue out at him and started running around the room only to flee from his uncle's vision in order for him to try and chase him; Janus sighed in a “not this again” manner and walked towards his general direction.

The scar had already been long forgotten.

✾✾✾✾

After days of non stop talking about that one astronomer and the museum, Remus's birthday finally came around.

It didn't seem such a peculiar or important day for that same one astronomer the kid kept talking about, the intelligent and cool one that he wanted to celebrate with.

Logan was walking up the stairs to the museum, his beloved workplace he wouldn't have traded for any kind of amount of gold.

Thankfully, its location had been accessible to a great number of tourists and curious citizens ever since it had been founded, so that every worker could be easily secured in their position.

He waved at his colleagues as he headed to his little office where he often stayed late to do research along side other devoted astronomers; his afternoon shift was about to start, right on time to run through a couple of papers of the previous night before meeting his first group of the day.

Being a tour guide around a museum whilst assisting in astronomy research all the while had its perks and downsides.

Mostly for Logan, it was his insatiable need to let every single thought that ran in his mind directly out for others to hear and obtain as information. It had always been hard as a teenager, especially during high-school.

It wasn't that he studied irregularly – well, maybe sometimes – but he, unlike the majority of his classmates, had to do extra work on training his speech method. The bits of info that stuck to his head while he studied were far too many and growing with each passing test, which made it harder to form connected sentences.

Talking was even worse than writing, he had no time to re-formulate what he had said a minute earlier, he couldn't go back to check what was his initial point, making his oral tests a complete mess.

Despite this, knowing what he wanted to do in his life in the long run, he kept practicing, finding great treasure in info-dumping people about his special interests.

Getting to discuss this kind of matter with university colleagues was a far better help than feeling like you were talking to a wall when your interlocutor kept nodding and smiling, clearly ignorant of whatever you were talking about.

It had also helped to understand how exactly you should modulate your speech depending on the audience, making it all a perfect experience for a soon-to-be guide.

Logan left the room and finally met his momentary students, ready to prepare their minds for the bliss of knowledge.

He briefly glanced through them, multiple people all different from one another, proving the world that education could be for anybody; he moved through different topics with ease, basically dancing between different rooms as he caught glimpses of other interested visitors, such as curious middle schoolers, or a man with bright yellow gloves talking softly to a small excited kid next to him.

It was his place, he felt at home, that strange and rare belonging sentiment.

The satisfaction of leaving the last group of people whose minds wandered in the deepest parts of space, now devoid of questions.

Who he didn't expect to still be wandering around the various exhibits hours after their entrance was that same man with yellow gloves and … supposedly his kid?

Logan leaned on the wall of the room's entrance, still out of sight, trying to catch what kind of conversation might have kept them around for so long.

Not much to his surprise, he heard the man talk of stars with an impressive accuracy, pointing up at the big white and blue projector.

It felt like he had met them personally and conversed with them.

He found himself smiling involuntary as he recognized his own enthusiasm in the boy.

And then …

« It's almost closing time, so, are you ready to hear what Virgil had to say? »

Remus's eyes lit up impossibly more and yelled a convinced “yeah!” before sitting on his uncle's lap and pointing up towards the binary-star Sirius.

« There. »

… he was brought elsewhere.

✾✾✾✾

Virgil always thought they'd have looked the same.

Either some sort of twins or really similar, differently aged bodies, something as weird as that.

Now a gleaming figure stood before him, completely different from how he had imagined him, so much that he almost distrusted that information.

« Patton told me about you. » Roman added later, as if he had just read his mind.

After the initial awkwardness, noticing the blunt disinterest, he tried again.

« So, what would be the name of my system companion? »

The other star raised an eyebrow at the unusual title and looked away before he could respond, making his answer muffled by the music echoing in the room.

« Virgil. »

« Well then, a pleasure being your friend then, Virgil. »

That finally got a reaction out of him, as the smaller star snorted sarcastically. « I don't really think meeting one time is what it takes to be someone's friend, Roman. »

He laughed lightly. « My apologies, I don't actually know how it works, » still with a smile on, he looked down. « I don't really have friends. »

And there it was, something Roman had never seen before, but that he could've caught on Patton's expression sometimes, briefly.

The pitiful glance he would've learnt to recognize.

« Oh. » was all Virgil mustered to say. He had never faced that kind of situation.

« It's the big and terrifying thing, or some envy of sorts, I'm not sure … But I still have Patton! » Roman concluded, bright as before. « And it's also why I've been eager to meet you since I got to know about you. »

Virgil tilted his head as he quickly glanced between him and the dancing couples.

« Did he tell you about me? »

« A little. He wanted it to be more of a surprise for both of us, he was as excited as I was! »

Unlike you, it seems.

Roman frowned and brushed off the clear indifference of the other, instead trying to find common ground.

« Would you like to dance? »

Virgil finally looked at him properly, but it was as though he was trying to make a tough choice, whether that was a useful option to his goal, the same way he did the first time they met. His hand moved and almost reached Roman's, but hesitation got the best of him, his eyebrows furrowed, arm almost shaking.

Roman didn't understand; what was the issue? They had danced earlier. What was so different about it now?

« I- »

They were interrupted by a swarm of people coming their way, clearing up a path for the Sun and Moon to return back to their respective places, outside of the palace.

Which meant it was time for everyone to part ways.

« … I will go. »

And just like that, he was gone.

Roman repeated the events in his mind once he got back, immediately requesting Patton's presence. Just what in the planets had he just witnessed? There was nothing of the sweetness he'd fantasized about, nothing about introducing each other like old friends, nothing of that electric buzz in your chest, the one that makes you so sure that you do belong exactly where you are.

All he felt was dread, awkwardness and uncomfortable silence, loss of words. Stupidity.

That's what he was, so ingenuous to think both of them would've been happy to find each other at last.

Had Virgil ever even cared about all of this? Did Roman simply impose his dreams on the other?

« So that I'm sure I did not hallucinate, » the star huffed, an arm over his eyes as he laid down. « I did meet him. »

« That you did. » Patton said, sounding more certain than Roman himself.

« And … »

« And? »

« It sucked. » he got up. « We barely even talked! My mind was racing and going blank from agitation and he didn't even try to interact with me, Patton. He obviously doesn't want to be my friend! He definitely thinks I'm annoying at this rate. »

« Hey there, little sparkle, slow down with the all too quick affirmations now. » Patton's form outside of the palace made him almost look like he had wings for arms. « You see, we're not all the same. You met me, and I'm very energetic and mostly aligning with your extravagant character- »

« You think I'm extravagant? » Roman let in some fake disbelief.

Patton chuckled. « In the best way possible! What I mean is, it's easy for us to get along, but Virgil is pretty much the opposite of you, which makes it a bit difficult to immediately get along. You only need to give it some more time. »

The binary-star did feel reassured with his words.

Not completely, though they made sense, yet there was always something in the back  of his mind that made him doubt those kind of words. The nebula could tell everytime Roman grimaced for seemingly no reason.

« Are you … » Roman calculated his words. Surely he didn't want to appear more doubtful than he was after his “defeat” at the ball earlier. « Are you sure it's not … »

« Roman, believe me, he'd be the last to care about the fact that you're … » he scrambled for examples. « A bigger star than the sun itself! Star systems share a deep intrinsic bond. Just go at his pace, he might only be distraught. »

« I heard someone talk about big stars. » a voice called over their shoulders. « So I couldn't help but stop by. »

A feminine body loomed before them, familiar almost spirited eyes checked Roman out from afar, until she was close enough to inspect both of them.

« Zeta. » Sirio-A called out unenthusiastically. « What brings you here? »

« Didn't see you dancing. Was wondering what kind of unforeseen event kept you from shining your true beauty upon those little kids. » they grinned. « But I see you're already hooked up. »

« Patton's always been a friend. » he replied in annoyance.

« I don't really do romances, thank you! » Patton offered right after with a bright smile.

« Oh. I apologize for assuming. » she said, before composing herself « Anyway,  I'd appreciate it if you came to chat with me and Canopus instead of running around in search of a random dude. »

Zeta Ophiuchi had always been … an eccentric type of star, basking under the knowledge that she, Roman and Canopus were the brightest ones of the night sky.

She managed to enthrall Canopus in her own thinking, since the latter showed a less strong character than her friend; Roman, though? He'd never really been eager to feed the fire of greatness.

He had come to terms with the fact that all those acts of superiority didn't matter, since nothing really changed in their hierarchy.

« Why do you guys insist on keeping your title as names instead of choosing your own? » he derailed from the conversation.

« A little nosy, aren't we today? »

« Says the one who barged in uninvited. »

Zeta chuckled. « Touché. » she sighed afterwards. « It's because we want to stay true to our origin, partly because it also gives you a grip on your essence, your reality. It's empowering, Sirius. » she put much more emphasis on Roman's title.

He hated it with a burning passion.

Zeta lowered down at his eye-level. « Don't you think? » he wanted to wipe her grin away with a single death glare.

Patton muttered a “not again” under his breath; that occasion happened at least once a month, Zeta would pick at Roman's most sensitive spots and try to get past the thick walls he placed between himself and his insecurities.

« Well it's been a nice sunset! Why don't we go before it gets too dangerous for you to stay away from Ophiuchus, Zeta? »

She stared intently at Roman for a while longer before turning to the nebula and offering a fake smile and a nod. « Of course, Seagull. »

He breathed deeply, then waved sadly at his friend as Zeta followed quickly behind.

Roman understood how she and Canopus had been admitted to the same group as his, yet at the same time he couldn't believe how he had to deal with Zeta's teasing even in the palace.

Working towards his goal was going to be harder than he thought.

✾✾✾✾

« Zeta's a bitch! » Remus abruptly commented, causing his uncle's sudden laughter. « I like her. »

Janus tried to gain his breath back. « Yeah- » he chuckled. « She's going to be rather interesting in the future. »

« Well that was quite the story. »

His eyes widened and he turned towards the entrance of the projector room: there stood a man, probably around his age, with the usual formal outfits and the museum worker plate stuck to his shirt.

« I'm so sorry I- »

« Logan! » Remus sprinted to his feet and ran up the stranger like he was an old relative he loved and hadn't seen in ages.

So that was who Remus would always mention.

Janus walked up to them, trying to hide the embarrassment behind a polite smile. « Come on duke, we should get going now. »

« But he's the star man! »

Star man? Logan thought, low-key impressed.

« There's no need to rush actually. We'll be closing the exhibit rooms in an hour, but most of us tend to stay the night. » he smiled back, then looked down at the young boy. « How do you know my name? »

« I came here two weeks ago! » Remus excitedly said. « With school! There were two of you, you were the cool one. »

Logan recalled a school class and a co-worker helping out with timing.

« We came back for my birthday, but I thought you weren't here today. Can we celebrate together now? »

Janus let out a laugh between exasperation and amusement, then looked up at the astronomer. « He's grown fond of you. » he tried to explain.

« I can see that. » Logan crouched down to converse with Remus easily. « What would you want me to do? »

Never before an occasion like that one had occurred to him, plus an offer to spend time with people with his same interests other than his colleagues, thus less programmed to spit out information in any given situation, would have definitely been a breath of fresh air.

« Let's get ice cream. » Remus turned to his uncle. « Can we? »

Janus nodded. « If Logan is able to, I don't see why not. »

And Logan could afford leaving early every once in a while, so …

« Alright then, » he stepped aside from the entrance to let them exit. « I will let them know I'll be going out. » he pointed towards the offices and left.

About half an hour later, Remus was walking around the park, doing his best not to make the ice cream fall from his cone as he inspected all the bugs and insects he could find.

« I hope we're not wasting precious time. » Janus was walking alongside Logan not too far behind from Remus.

« Not at all. I have been actually told I could have used some free time every now and then. »

« Ah, are you the stay-in-late type? »

Logan moved his head from side to side in half agreement. « Sort of. It is mostly part of our job to carry on with research. You could say my work could be divided into day and night jobs. I do not mind it a single bit, to be fair. »

« Oh! » the star stopped dead in his tracks, realization hitting him, while the astronomer looked back at him, blinking in confusion. « How rude of me. » he extended his arm to the other. « My name is Janus Hydra. »

Logan gladly shook it. « Pleasure to be here then, Janus. »

The star smiled, then they went back to walking. « And the one who's trying to catch a butterfly is my nephew Remus. » he giggled as he watched the kid almost stick his cone into a tree.

« It was very thoughtful of you to bring him to the museum for his birthday. »

« Yes, well, he wouldn't stop mentioning it day and night. It would've been rude of me not to do so. »

Logan caught an odd detail in that sentence. « You live with him? » he asked, trying to be as cautious and considerate as possible.

Janus nodded and, for the first time, he wasn't asked why. He was silently grateful for, objectively, a stranger not trying to peer into his personal life as much as others would do.

« So, what about you? I haven't seen you around my workplace, yet you seem to be knowledgeable about stars. » he thought back at the moments in which he pointed up at the constellations with impeccable precision. « Is it a simple personal passion? »

« You could say that. It's something like a family thing. As you may have noticed, my surname comes from a constellation, by which I could deduce that probably one of my ancestors decided it was going to be our legacy. »

Logan could … honestly see that.

« Very peculiar. I can imagine the- »

« L, look! » Remus ran up to them with a butterfly in his hand. « Which one is this? »

Logan cupped one hand under his. « I suggest not to take it by the wings, » with the other, he instructed Remus to drop it gently on his palm. « Touching them damages them as it removes the material on them which permits butterflies to distinguish and disguise themselves. Furthermore, your risk to damage or even completely break the wings. They're pretty fragile. » the little insect walked up to his fingertip. « Here. » he offered as he gestured for Remus to carefully let the butterfly walk on from Logan's to his hand.

« This one is a Morpho Menelaus, also known as blue morpho. »

« I read they can drink from puddles. » the kid said as he lowered the insect next to one on the ground.

« That's true, they have a varied diet. Did you know some can drink blood as well? »

Remus jumped to his feet, a wide grin on his face. « They can?! »

Logan made a diverted expression at the difference between Remus's reaction and Janus's unpleasant disbelief.

« There's a moth species in Asia with this ability, if it pleases the butterfly of course, it's rare but not undone. »

Time seemed to dilate as Remus kept asking for more facts to the “cool man who seemed to know everything”, the small talk between the latter and Janus to slowly get to know each other more and the general pleasant aura made them forget it was almost time for dinner.

« Wait. » Remus, once again, caught everyone's attention. « What about my birthday gift from Logan? »

Janus wanted to intervene, but Logan seemed way ahead of him already.

« How inconsiderate of me, you are absolutely correct, I should have prepared for this important event. » he pretended to think about it. « How about you can come to the museum whenever you want without the need of a ticket? »

Remus beamed, that was the best t-

« No. »

And his heart skipped a beat for a moment. He turned to look at his uncle with disappointment, but Janus's glance was fixed on Logan's.

« I refuse to not support your job. We will pay, like any other visitor. »

« Let's make a deal, then. You can come whenever you'd like and stay later than closing time, while I get to hear the story you were telling earlier as well. »

That was entirely unexpected. What was so charming about events he had witnessed? It didn't sit completely right with him, but who was he to deny saving money for the sake of his nephew's happiness?

Janus looked down at Remus who had assumed the “cat with the boots” adorable pleading face.

« Alright, you win this one, but I still owe you. » he warned Logan.

« Completely fine with me. »

« Are you sure it's okay to do, still? »

The astronomer had no doubts. « I will find a way, no need to worry. I'll be expecting you two tomorrow? » he asked, tilting his head almost imperceptibly to the side.

The other two agreed to come say hi after Remus had been done with school and thus they parted ways.

As Janus drove home, he realized he hadn't felt the all too familiar dawning of anguish a single moment of the day.

Was that going to be the eagerly awaited turning point?

Ever since they started visiting the museum, Remus and Janus took their time to explore every room and all the documents the exhibit had to offer, which made it really effective to tire Remus out in anticipation of bedtime.

Thus, the storytelling would often get postponed, especially since they wanted Logan to also be present, though he had to run important experiments during the first few weeks. They so decided to change it from a bedtime story to “their thing”, under the faint light of a constellations projector.

A month had now passed since their first encounter, and they finally managed to all sit down together in the almost dark room.

« Here's an apology gift. » Logan pushed a box in front of Remus who immediately wrapped off the paper encasing it.

« Apology for what exactly? » Janus asked with an eyebrow raised. « You're already letting us stay here for free. » it had become like a second home at that point.

« I know, but I have been around very briefly and I had to sneak you in late to cut out some time for you. »

« We aren't expecting you to be here every single time, Logan, you work here … »

« And you're also forgiven! » Remus exclaimed showing the little glow-in-the-dark stars stickers he already couldn't wait to put up in his room.

Janus chuckled under his breath. « You still didn't have to. » he made himself comfortable against the room's wall.

« If everyone's ready, I shall begin. »

✾✾✾✾

Roman felt like Virgil had been missing for most of the sunset dances.

He hadn't caught a glimpse of him in weeks, he felt as if he had been playing hide and seek all this time; Patton told him not coming wasn't possible, like stars were literally just teleported fully dressed to the ballroom the second it begun.

He had also been pretty busy avoiding Zeta and Canopus – not that the latter was any threat to him, actually she would've been easily persuaded to not tell on his location – that time ran out before he could meet up with Virgil.

All hope had been lost as he laid against a column and turned away from the dancing couples.

And he saw Virgil, a few meters away, sitting on a marble sort of parapet like he was ready to jump on his feet and leave. He was surrounded by a lack of other stars.

« Hey there. » Roman waved from his spot and his system's partner turned to him with the quickest neck movement he'd ever seen.

He looked as tired as someone who'd been dancing around all night.

… trying to … avoid someone …

Okay, they were both tired as hell.

Virgil gave the most effortless wave he could muster.

« Haven't seen you lately. » Roman pointed out. « Still, would you sit down with me? I don't think I can handle standing a minute longer. »

« I concur. » Virgil responded, grateful.

They slid down to the floor in almost perfect synchrony, simply watching what was going on before them: Roman was able to catch Patton's eyes and smile at him.

« Remember when you said I'm not a good judge of what is and isn't a friendship? »

« Didn't phrase it like that, but sure. »

« Does someone who's constantly bothering you and generally poke at your limits seem like a friend? »

Virgil took a silent but deeper look at the other and noted in his mind how exasperated he sounded.

« That sounds more like someone's been annoying you non-stop. That's … not exactly friendship either. »

Roman sighed, trying not to spiral into hysteria by the end of the night; he could hear Zeta's imposing voice in every corner he tried to escape.

How to break into silence?

« What do you think about going to the balcony? »

Virgil didn't hate the idea, but worry got the best of him. « Isn't that section of the palace reserved to the Sun and Moon only? »

His acquaintance displayed a mischievous smile. « Not if we get back before anyone notices. » he pulled himself to his feet, offering his hand to the other confidently.

Virgil couldn't help but take it and venture into unexplored areas; the hallways decorations were pretty much the same, if not less sumptuous, of the ballroom. He watched as Roman pushed glass doors open and revealed a terrace with a view of the Earth's sunrise on the sky above them.

They must have been on the Sun's wing. He felt suddenly more agitated about his presence there.

« Finally, » Roman took large steps to the parapet and leaned on it, closing his eyes to the gentle breeze caressing his hair. « A moment of silence. »

Virgil mimicked him. « I hadn't felt this peaceful nothingness in a long while. »

The other opened one eye to give him a sideways look. « You have visitors? »

« People have been fussing over me for some reason ever since we made our debut here. »

That explained the ever tired look, the staying behind as stars danced and had fun, and especially the unwanted attention.

« They say they find me cute or whatever, only because I'm the smaller star in the binary system. It's … really annoying. Kind of offensive, if I can say. »

« Here we are, » Roman chuckled to himself. « Both socially exhausted because everybody's patronizing you, while I'm being picked at constantly. »

« It's our system's fatal flaw. » Virgil confessed dramatically, which made the other snort, surprised by the sudden burst of confidence with joking around him.

They spent some more minutes in silence, the music from the ballroom was barely audible, like they were slowly being taken away.

Neither of their situations were desirable, but Roman really could've used some positive attention every once in a while, instead of laying in the dreadful awaiting of being ridiculed, as whoever else passed by him tried not to make eye contact.

He didn't realize he had progressively lowered his head to rest on the parapet's rail, his eyes half-lidded. He dared to take a quick glance at Virgil, standing tall as he observed the morning sky: every movement of his purple irises looked like a stroke of a brush on an expensive painting.

There, he looked much bigger than the universe they were in, some sort of irony against his usual small perception, which caused other stars to nickname him as “the pup”.

Roman's face portrayed an amused smile as he imagined Virgil being one of Earth's small dogs he had been told about.

It quickly faltered though, as soon as he shook the thought away, the sorrowful reality of his loneliness hit him and he couldn't stop himself from murmuring his belief to the sunrise.

« I really have only one friend, huh? »

The quiet around made it possible for Virgil to hear clearly, so he turned and looked at him from above, pondering whether or not it was appropriate of him to console Roman in some way.

At the end of the day, they really were alike, as distinct as they still could appear.

« You can have me? Two isn't much higher than one, but it isn't as bad. »

Roman averted the sky to disperse his bewilderment directly into Virgil's eyes, all fluttery eyelids and raised eyebrows.

« That would be so much better. » Virgil was glad to be the cause of his smile for once. « Thank you, Virgil. »

« You can call me Virge. »

Roman started cooing mockingly. « Aw, you're opening up to me. »

« And already regretting it, thank you very much. »

The other genuinely laughed and his expression softened, letting silence set one more veil above them.

« I wish I could visit you. » Roman then said after admiring the landscape. « We'd make sleepovers along with Patton- »

« Stars don't sleep. »

Oh, damn it. They had gotten so lost in their conversation that they hadn't noticed the music fading out completely.

As they turned, they noticed Emile at the entrance of the terrace, a warm expression set on his face, some sort of understanding as he had his arms folded over himself and sparkles of light all around.

He wasn't hostile, yet he knew they didn't belong there. Still, he wasn't one to reprimand.

« You should hurry back, friends. » he suggested, leaving one of the two doors free for them to pass through.

The two quickly made their way towards the hallway, but for Virgil it felt like an eternity: the moment he locked eyes with the Sun, it was as though his body refused to acknowledge its own movements. He didn't realize Roman had been tugging him by the sleeve as Virgil walked right past Emile, never leaving his glance.

Roman turned back to him as they half-ran towards the ballroom, noticing Virgil still hadn't turned his head from the balcony's entrance.

« Are you alright? »

« Huh? » Virgil quickly moved to look forward and find Roman's curious face.

The bigger star noticed the glimmering lights on his cheeks: a common feature which meant a star was happy or feeling intense emotions.

He saw Roman furrow his eyes, like he was trying to connect the dots, but rapidly ignoring it as they had made their way through the ballroom.

This time, Roman had a different tale to tell Patton.

✾✾✾✾

« So- uh? »

As Janus had been stroking Remus's hair absentmindedly, he hadn't realized the kid's breath had been slowing down to an evenly repeated movement: as he looked down, he saw his nephew biting through his glove in his sleep.

« It really sounds like an effective bedtime story. » Logan commented as Janus carefully placed Remus's head on his shoulder. He helped him stand up without losing balance and they quietly made their way towards the exit and, subsequently, Janus's car as, like Logan said, “it was the least he could do for them that night”.

« Are you going to go back in? » Janus whispered as he kept an eye on the backseat of his car.

Logan checked his watch, noticing time had flown by rather quickly, no wonder the kid had already fallen asleep. « I think so, yes. »

« Okay. » the other nodded. « Don't stay too late, Remus is not the only one who needs sleep. »

« I am fully aware of what a healthy circadian rhythm consists of. » he threw in a slight, non-harmful piece of sarcasm in his voice.

« Oh, I know you do. I was just making sure you knew you aren't elected to ignore it either way. »

Logan was delighted by the atmosphere: it was always pleasant to realize the exact moment in which you got closer to someone, the caring feeling hidden under friendly banter.

He was glad someone was looking out for him in that way.

« I'll theorize about what's going to happen next in your tale to help myself, then. »

« Hey, » Janus pointed towards him. « Don't you dare use that excuse to stay up later, though. »

« Will not do. » Logan chuckled. « Seriously, though, you needn't worry. »

« Fine. » he said, realizing that maybe his “mother-hen” senses had been activated the moment his nephew had fallen asleep.

He looked back at his little duke, and took a step backward, moving to his car.

« Well- »

Janus raised his arm to wave, but was interrupted by his friend's sudden words.

« I was thinking, » Logan was tapping his fingertips together before stopping altogether and making eye contact, like he had forgotten what he was doing. « If you'd like to and if you have time, we could hang out? It doesn't always have to be my workplace, or be a rushed thing. »

« That would be lovely! I can't really leave Remus alone nowadays and I always work when he's at school, as I imagine you do as well, but you could definitely come visit when you're off. »

Both of them were thrilled of the thought of spending quality time with each other for once.

« Oh, right. I could pick you up from work and you could have dinner with us! »

« Sounds excellent. » Logan moved slightly and a speck of street light hit part of his face, lighting up one of his eyes.

It was there that it was clear how the dark of the night made everything seem more mysterious and grim.

They waved each other goodbye, deciding to agree upon the day of their meeting via text.

Janus heard Remus shuffle in his seat, he was gripping tightly at the door's handle.

The moment he looked back ahead of himself he noticed an unusual glimmering under his eyes: he quickly checked on the rear-view mirror, finding the same sparkles he had described in his story.

He in-took a deep breath and braced himself for whatever was going to come in the future, while all he could think about were sharp looks and a poised personality.

That sure as the sky was going to be interesting to witness.

For example, it was deeply interesting when he received a call from Logan, the latter insisting he couldn't be able to sleep; the sound of the phone ringing had also woken Remus up, whom unceremoniously plopped onto his uncle's bed right beside him as soon as he heard Logan's voice.

Now he had two restless kids to put to sleep.

« This isn't an excuse for both of you to stay up later is it? »

« I wanted to talk to Logan too! »

« And I forgot to get melatonin on my way to work. »

After arguing to get him to make a physical note to leave on his table for the morning after, Janus allowed the man to stay on the line and Remus to get comfortable under the covers, while only the bedside table lamp was on.

✾✾✾✾

The terrace scene had replayed in Virgil's head for weeks.

Ever since the start, his goal had been the one to be able to reach the Sun, the one childhood hero he had grown to love, now he had him at his fingertips and yet, he was still so distant.

He danced with strangers to gain courage to get as close as possible to him, but he couldn't find it to touch his hand, let alone when he had to speak a single word to him.

The Sun seemed kind-hearted, he was for sure as well, he knew he wouldn't have been the target of insults for his deep admiration.

Despite all of this, he was still scared.

He was going to explode if he didn't speak up about it anytime soon.

« Are you alright? »

That question again, while the same thoughts circled in his mind, ones he couldn't keep in anymore.

« I think I'm in love with him. »

Roman battered his eyes. He had been spending most of the dance time with him, venting to each other about whoever came to visit or simply relaxing in the quietest spot they were allowed to reach.

They hadn't danced together once yet.

« Care to explain further? »

How could he when he couldn't even say his name?

« The sun. » Virgil hardly let out any voice. « I just- » he felt all the tension wash away as he looked into Roman's red irises, willing to gather more knowledge on the situation. « I'm happy to come here only because I have a chance to see him, but every single time someone else sweeps him away before I can even reach him. »

That would've been Remy, Roman thought.

« And even if I had the opportunity … I couldn't take it. It's stronger than me and it's eating me alive at the same time. » his breath was heavy with emotion.

Roman made space to a new feeling as well. There was only one way he could explain it.

Daggers.

Daggers piercing through your chest and stomach, multiple of them slowly and attentively burning holes in every vital organ, becoming sharper the longer Roman breathed through it.

It was because of empathy, right? He felt awful for Virgil's incapacity to interacting with the one he loved.

So why would the thought of helping him deepen the sharpness of those knives?

« I just … need to at least talk about it with someone. I only ever really have this opportunity with you and then again, staying alone with my thoughts- »

« It makes you want to scream. »

Roman wanted to yell the pain away.

« Like your organs are contorting … »

And twisting and looking for a way out of your body.

« … And your heart is in your throat, trying its best to escape. »

Virgil nodded, an aching expression displayed on his face.

« Why don't you just go? Next time, you just throw yourself in. Be yourself. It's always what they tell you to do. Let it happen, be natural and respect his boundaries. A path will slowly be open to you. »

What was he doing?

Virgil let the information sink in and, slowly, that pained face transformed into a warm smile.

That. That's what I'm doing. That's what I always want to do.

It was also how they tended to spend the sunset and sunrise dances ever since; Roman would sit down with Virgil in the corner and psych him up for him to be able to, eventually, open up to the opportunity of meeting Emile for real.

And, at the same time, he watched himself struggle and fall down, masking himself for the sake of the other.

On a particular night, he was walking away from the room alone, a myriad of thoughts surrounding his mind.

He didn't even have what he wanted.

« No, I do. » he retorted to himself, stopping dead in his tracks.

Virgil was his friend, that's all he had ever wanted ever since he found out about his existence, so why was it just not enough yet? Why was it so doleful, the idea of the friend he craved being so happy with someone else?

Why couldn't it just admit his emotions to himself? Why was there always a wall between him and how he felt?

« Would you please like to get moving? » he felt a hand push him from his back and the sight of Zeta and Canopus at her side obscured his mind from whatever he was thinking.

He didn't react much other than get to walking again, everything would've been fine, to some extent, if he didn't hear her whisper to her friend about how she was going to stop at Sirius's star before.

Anxiety surged in his stomach, up to his stomach, pumping his heart more than needed.

« You've been distraught. » she announced as they landed on his star. « What's up? »

« You think I'd tell you? »

« Why do you have anyone else to say that to? »

Roman looked down: as much as he hated to admit it, she was right.

« That still doesn't mean I suddenly want to open up to you. »

« Sirius, come on, you think you'll ever get the chance to do so with that little kid? »

« His name is Virgil. » he growled.

She tilted her head, mouth open. « Protective aren't we? » he clicked her tongue three times. « Not good, Sirius, not good. As I was saying, you'll never have the chance to talk with anyone but me and Canopus. »

Shut up.

« Patton won't be able to be here for you forever. »

Shut up.

« And everybody knows how Sirius B's star is slowly dying- »

« Can you stop for once in your life?! »

Zeta watched as Roman put his hands on his ears, eyes wide with panic, his entire body was trembling as he sat down, his sadness finally hitting him. Tears welled in his ruby eyes as too many concerns formed inside him.

« Don't talk about him. » he managed to say through the sobs. « Don't mention him, in any way, I don't want you to even think about him. »

Zeta arched an eyebrow and stepped closer, offended by the sudden burst. « You really need to own up to your true title and stop hanging around the pathetic ones. »

She walked away from him, until yelling took her by surprise.

« I love him! » Roman admitted, pulling his arms away from his eyes, his face reddened and wet with sorrow. « Are you happy?! I love him and he definitely doesn't. »

He looked down and all he saw was opaque misery.

« Well of course he doesn't. » she spat, turning back to give him one last disgusted glance. « Look at yourself. »

The last dagger.

Roman collapsed and let out all his anguish.

Yet again, he was going to find himself left behind, alone in his shuddersome melancholy.

And no one else had to know.

✾✾✾✾

There was a beat of silence.

« Uncle, how am I going to sleep after all of that? »

Janus grinned mischievously. « I like to torture my readers. » then he picked up the phone again and whispered. « But listen. »

Nothing more than a slow breathing came from the other end.

« Want to say goodnight? »

Remus nodded vigorously. « Night Lol! » he then watched as Janus hung up. « Is Roman going to be okay? »

Janus shrugged. « Maybe. »

« I'm going to kick you off the bed. »

« I'd tease you more but I recognize you're actually able to do that. »

« Good. » Remus smiled and eventually tucked himself further in bed, ready for a good night's sleep. And maybe some chaos in the middle of it, but it wasn't like his uncle had to know.

On a fortunate weekend, Janus and Remus were finally driving back to their apartment with a new component of their little group. Logan was contentedly sitting in the passenger seat, ready for another one of the peculiar nights around who became in no time two of his favorite people.

As he made his way through the porch, he noticed how Remus had wanted to stick the glow-in-the-dark stars on every single apartment wall. In fact, he had told the astronomer how sometimes he would convince his uncle to have a sleepover in different rooms.

« Imagine sleeping in the kitchen and waking up to breakfast ready! »

« That literally already happens, I always cook you something before you wake up. And don't think I don't notice those midnight snacks. »

The dinner went by nicely, Logan had settled in quickly, like he had always belonged there: he helped with food and to hinder Remus whenever it was extremely needed, or at least keep him company while he played as Janus was busy in the kitchen.

Having Logan around felt like the most normal thing ever and Janus was grateful to have a friendship like his.

Before he knew it, the sparkles were back. He fought them away as he called the other two, trying to keep himself through the entire meal, but it was absolutely impossible as he kept laughing and smiling thanks to someone so dashingly-

Hold up. Back on track.

You're supposed to fight it back, not welcome it, you dumbass.

Remus lost interest in the TV show he was following and left the room to go play with his toys once he had finished eating, taking some ice cream with him.

In the middle of a conversation, Janus absentmindedly rubbed at his cheek, not noticing he had taken off some of the makeup he meticulously had put on before he left home.

Someone else noticed, of course.

« Oh- You have- Hang on. » Logan bent over the table, thinking an eyelash had fallen on Janus's cheek, though when he noticed it didn't fall off, rather it expanded, he arched his eyebrows and sat back, looking at the makeup residue on his fingertips.

Janus's heart had skipped multiple beats since then. What was he supposed to say now?

« I would never pry, but, is everything alright? »

Seeing the genuine concern and care behind Logan's glasses, he convinced himself it was time for him to learn the story behind him.

Not every single detail … as he would've never believed him.

« It's … kind of a long story. » he began, folding his hands together on the table. « Remus's mother, she was my sister. She had married this man, Clyde Davis. »

« The therapist? »

« You know him? » the world surely was very little.

« Not personally. » his doctor had suggested him as he was also a psychiatrist, to help with his sleep issues.

« Well, they were together for a few years, then they had Remus and everything was going splendidly. » his glance moved from his hands to Remus playing in the other room. « Until my sister fell ill. It didn't take too long for it to consume her … I was already staying by their side pretty much daily, supporting them. » he sighed deeply and passed a hand on his face. « When she passed away, it also didn't take long before Clyde decided to start a new life … without Remus. »

« He … passed him onto you? Just like that? » Logan was bewildered negatively.

« Yes. He said we reminded him too much of her and he couldn't stay in that kind of environment anymore. »

« I understand the decision, but, and pardon my french, that is what they call a “dick move”. »

Janus couldn't help but giggle at that. « Yeah, I can't believe I used to be in love with him. »

Wait.

Wait.

Earthlings, Janus, you fool!

That was it, he ruined automatically whatever he had created with Logan with a single sentence because he forgot the humans' moral compass.

Right before he could spiral, he felt a hand on his and, when he looked up, he saw his friend's reassuring expression.

« It's okay. Sometimes we love people who hurt us, it can happen and we cannot control what our heart dictates. »

Janus blinked multiple times, then couldn't bare his stare anymore and looked down again. Then at their joined hands.

He took another breath. « Remus and I were perfectly fine by ourselves, dare I say Remus's presence lit up my days more than I did his. Then one day he appeared on my doorstep and it took all I had in myself to not slam the door right on his face. He insisted he had left something behind and decided to retrieve it after two years. Needless to say … he made me very upset. »

He scrunched his face for a second.

« I had a knife in my hand … and, well, I accidentally injured myself while trying to prove a point. » he wiped further at his cheek and part of his eyebrow and forehead. « Thankfully it wasn't as deep as it seemed. »

« I'm really sorry all of that happened. » Logan grimaced. « I would gladly teach him a lesson if he ever comes in my sight. »

Janus snorted. « Will you tell him about Runaway stars? »

« I hate and love that sentence at the same time, but as much as it would be the most intently ironic topic ever, I do have mediocre experience in explaining about how to raise a child in an healthy environment. »

He nodded. « Yes, that would be an incredibly helpful topic. »

« For future reference, of course. »

« Ah yes, not like he ever needed that in the past. » Janus had waited for this kind of conversation to happen with someone for ages.

« I'm glad you told me when you didn't have to. » Logan eventually confessed. « I imagined something like this had happened, but I preferred you were the one to brush the subject first. »

Janus had always been grateful for that. « You're the first and only one so far. » they both smiled at that. « But yes, I just didn't want you to worry about this. » he said, pointing to his scar.

Logan didn't exactly control his next words. « Not that I can not worry for you nonetheless. »

No, don't do that to me.

« Sometimes it's like … I wished I could stay longer. I suppose it has to do with the fact that I like being around to help the two of you, be it with chores or having fun. Instead I keep rushing back and forth from home to work lately. »

Janus bit the inside of his cheek. « You're always welcome here if you want to distract yourself. Just be sure to take care properly. »

« I know I should. I never seem to have enough time in a day. »

« Then let us. » Janus started grinning and laid back against his seat. « Remus makes a killer combination of ice cream and we know all the best TV shows, I'm fairly sure you have a similar taste to mine. Oh my, I can't imagine you with a face mask- »

« Please spare me. » Logan pretended to be scared for his life as the other couldn't contain his laughter anymore.

« It's too late. The plan is already in motion. »

Their conversation derailed until wine settled in to make everything more light hearted.

Remus ventured in the room around 10, announcing he was tired by letting half of his body rest on top of his uncle's legs. He carried him towards his bed and, that time, both Logan and Janus had sat down next to him for the night's storytelling.

✾✾✾✾

« Gosh, this really is harder than it originally sounded like. » Patton had been rubbing Roman's back for the past minutes as he had lost all the energy to dance after the previous week's realization.

Dare he say, he was actually trying to avoid Virgil in any kind of way. His absence would've probably helped him far more to finally approach Emile, anyway. He was just helping him further, wasn't he?

« I feel awful. » the nebula admitted, a sour taste in his mouth. « One-sided feelings are difficult to accept, though not impossible to overcome. It may sound stupid, but you'll feel better with time, Ro. I assure you. »

« You're right, it sounds stupid. » he had never heard his voice so low.

Patton smiled sadly. « I know. But I do feel like, instead of inconveniencing yourself further, you should spend as much time as you are allowed to with him. » he looked back at him. «  And none says Emile automatically reciprocates. »

« Don't get my hopes up. »

« I was just saying. » Patton used his sing-song voice, the one that never failed to make Roman smile. « Either way, I'll always be here to be your moral support. »

« Believe me, you'll also always be a far better moral support than Zeta. »

« She isn't the best in that department. »

Both Patton and Roman looked up and the latter found Canopus sitting next to him.

« She thinks she looks out for people. She has good intentions, but she's still a little confused on her methods. » it was usual of her to defend Zeta, but Roman was glad she shared nothing of Ophiuchus' star's attitude.

« I think she should understand not every single one of us is under her supervision. »

Canopus nodded, lying against the column which was lining up perfectly with her back.

« Why has she left you alone? » Roman didn't mind her, she was actually one of the kindest stars he knew, but seeing her by herself made him skeptical.

« Did she hurt you? We would stand by your side in case! »

Canopus giggled and put up her hands. « It's okay. No, she's … talking to someone. » she pointed to Roman. « Your co-star? Virgil? »

That was the last straw-

« Don't you dare. » Patton pulled Roman back down on his seat, though the other was fuming with rage already. « Canopus, dear, why would Zeta converse with Virgil without you? »

« She said she needs to ask him a question. A rather personal question, something she didn't want me to know, I guess. » she looked into Roman's eyes with determination. « She vowed to never lie to me many, many years back. I'm sure she isn't saying anything about you. You know how she's all for honor, I don't think she would tell on you like that. »

As much as Zeta's ways had always been pretty drastic, Roman believed her, though the curiosity of what she might have been asking was eating him away.

More than being curious, for Virgil the experience was dreadful.

You suddenly saw one of the biggest stars in the room come up to you and ask about your feelings, like everyone in the room could've read you easily.

« This is going to sound weird. » she declared as she took Virgil's hand when they exchanged dancing partners. « But I need to know this out of you. Do you by any chance nurture any kind of romantic feelings towards Sirius A? »

Virgil felt dumbfounded. « No. » he quickly said, quicker than needed. « I do not. » he added, trying to mimic her poised nature.

« So, if there ever was another potential lover, you'd think the path would be clear for them? »

Was that hope in her voice? The tiniest tremble in a heated room.

« I definitely think so. » she glanced back in a direction unknown to Virgil.

« Thank you. » she whispered before disappearing back in the crowd; he stepped away from it, finding easily Emile's bright figure dancing and smiling like it was the first time with some stars unknown to him.

« Isn't he beautiful? »

Damn. That really was the richest night he had, huh?

Right next to him stood the Moon themselves; Remy was holding their glasses, letting their gleaming silver eyes rest for a while.

« Truly. » he agreed, letting the softness take him away.

« I couldn't ask for a more amazing dance partner every night. » Virgil wished he could share a piece of their happiness.

« I can only imagine. » he looked down, gaze fixed onto the Sun.

Remy titled their head. « You haven't danced with him yet? »

Virgil shook his head no and bite his lip. He so wished to do so.

« Then fear not, sweetie, I got your back. » they put back their sunglasses and carefully led Virgil to dance in swirls around the room, so that his next partner would have been Emile for sure.

« It's an experience to try. He's like, the most magnificent star I've ever met. »

« I know. » Virgil's tone was now more dreamy. « I've seen him everyday in front of me, I've been hoping to interact with him ever since I was little. »

« That sounds adorable, darling. Your wish is my command, humans use to wish upon stars, but it's truly only the Moon that hears them and guides them through their path. »

Remy noticed they were close to the partner change.

« One last question. What's your title? »

« Sirius B. I'm part of a binary star-system. » Virgil felt Remy's grip loosen on his hand and, slowly, he was let to someone else.

« Good luck, Virgil. »

Remy's nod was the last thing he saw before turning and finding Emile smiling down at him.

As for the Moon, he found himself dancing with Patton. « Ah! My favorite Nebula! »

« Hello Remy. » Patton giggled at Remy's extra antics. « I see you were talking to Virgil. »

« Yeah, the guy was totally scared. Like, girl, I know I'm a big deal, but you're starting to make me feel like royalty, that's going to feed my ego. » they let out a laugh, but composed themselves rather rapidly. « Say, he told me something that kind of left me perplexed. »

Oh, no.

Patton feared Virgil had disclosed his feelings, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't have been so ingenuous to reveal them to the Moon, of all presents.

« He seemed to express deep admiration for Emile. » was it really what he was thinking? « But he said he's in front of him? Like a childhood kind of admiration, you know? Someone you look up to ever since you're born. Weird, because last time I checked, Sirius B is in front of Sirius A. »

« Hold on. » Patton's eyes widened and the couple stopped in the middle of the room. « Are you telling me he hasn't been praising the Sun just because of all the stories about him, but because he has mistaken it for Roman? »

« Seems so. I wanted to let you know, in case there had been a misunderstanding. »

« Oh my gosh, Remy! » Patton pulled both of them out of the crowd. « That is fantastic news! »

« It is? Did I do a good job? Have I earned a gold star? » Remy smirked as the nebula laughed his heart out between his excitement and the pun.

They reached Roman in no time, who had decided to sit by himself during the entire night.

« You're not going to believe this, Ro! »

Patton took Roman's hands in his and smiled brightly as he narrated everything that had just happened with Remy's assistance when it came to what exactly happened between him and Virgil.

Despite now realizing that Virgil's feelings should have been directed at him, Roman's expression didn't differ.

« You do know that changes nothing, right? »

Patton's face fell. « Wh- »

« Pat, listen. Even if he'd mistaken his feelings for the wrong person, Virgil has still developed feelings for Emile, not for me. He isn't going to direct them towards me only because of a tiny mistake, it isn't how they work. »

Remy leaned over Patton. « Uh, I'm going to let you guys work this out, not because I'm jealous or whatever, promise. I don't wanna intrude. Hope you figure it out. » then they spared one last look for Roman. « But dude, why not tell him? He's still your friend, and he has only just met Emile, after feeding off of a false image of him. » then, the Moon shrugged. « But you do you, sir. Have a nice rest of the night. » with that, they disappeared.

« I won't force you, Ro. But do know that I support you. »

Roman didn't feel like having the same sharp daggers through his stomach again, yet a huge part of him was pulling him to his feet. With no other word, he let himself between the dancing couples.

And, of course, in no time he clasped hands with Zeta.

« Here for another lecture? »

« No, not tonight. »

Roman scoffed. « I thank you for blessing me. »

Silence fell between them as Roman caught sight of Virgil and the Sun. And their happiness. And how he had never made him smile so wide, how he had never made his eyes glimmer like that, how he hadn't gotten a single sparkle out of his cheeks the way he had had it on for the entirety of his dance with Emile.

Feeling under motivated, he looked away, deciding against intervening. Who was he to break his little dream?

Virgil really had been living his dream.

But everybody knows sometimes dreams tend to turn into nightmares.

« I'm glad I get to inspire the younger ones. » Emile made dancing feel natural. « Though I must ask you something as well, after seeing such adoration. » he looked in Virgil's eyes deeply. « Are you being true to yourself and honest with your feelings, Virgil? »

Agitation grew into him. « W-what would that mean? » he stuttered, his cover already blown.

« You don't have to lie about what you feel only because you fear the outcome. You already know that star in front of you is not me but it's Roman, you've known all along but you've masked it with me so Roman would have backed away thinking his interest was one sided. »

Virgil had never felt more read through in his entire life, like he had had the truth plastered on his face the entire time.

The guilt in his eyes told Emile he was spot on.

« Why is that so, little one? »

« Everybody knows what happens when two stars of a system collide they either become a single bigger star, or produce a black hole. » Virgil looked down. « I … I feared the outcome of our relationship. I figured if I made him step away, nothing like that would've happened. I didn't want to risk it. »

The Sun frowned. « You were ready to give up both of your happiness? »

« For the sake of potentially every star in this room? Yes. » he could taste his own sour words. « Nothing else matters. »

« Let me tell you something, Virgil. » Emile pulled them away from the crowd of dancers. « Usually, a black hole happens when there's a series of star collisions. A single star collision tends to merge the two stars into a supernova explosion. And yes, it is said that only one of the two will survive ultimately, but actually what survives is a mixture of the two. We call this a luminous red nova. This will only happen if your binary system ever experiences orbital decay. » Emil put a hand on Virgil's shoulder. « If you are careful about how you move and only meet during the sunrise and sunset dances, you're absolutely safe. Believe me. Okay? »

Virgil blinked a few times before stopping to bit his cheek and finally let a genuine smile creep on his face. « I do. I believe you. » he took a deep shaky breath, finally devoid of all the concerns in his mind. « Thank you. »

« Don't mention it, little one. Now, make me proud and go t- »

The Sun got interrupted by a loud crashing sound, like the sky had just broken up and started falling from the ceiling.

The two immediately looked behind themselves to find the most terrifying picture: every single star but one had been blown away, fallen to their feet as the only standing one started having a red aura around them. The luminous shade seemed to only grow wider and … warmer.

« Oh, Jupiter. This is not good. » Emile said as Virgil noticed Roman a few feet away from the standing star, staring wide eyed at them.

« What? What's going on? »

« It's Zeta Ophiuchi. » Emile slowly turned to Virgil, terror in his eyes. « It's turning into a Runaway star. »

✾✾✾✾

« So, what astronomers hypothesized up until now is that Zeta Ophiuchi had been previously part of a binary system itself, but its partner had exploded into a supernova, hurling Zeta at a very high speed through space. This is why they're called runaway stars. » Logan explained to Remus as he had been confused by the dramatic cliffhanger; he then turned to Janus. « That is fairly a very interesting way of portraying the beginning of a runaway star. I wonder what Roman had said to cause her to have that reaction. »

« Oh! I know! He rejected her. »

« Damn, » Janus furrowed his eyes at Remus. « You really don't like leaving some suspense here and there. »

« This is repay for when you told me you didn't know whether Roman was going to be okay. And he sure as hell doesn't sound okay now. »

Janus tucked his nephew into bed. « How about you sleep, you stinky little rat king? »

Remus whined. « You know that's my favorite nickname! I can't help but comply. » he suddenly lifted his hands. « Take me, arms of Orpheus. »

« It's Morpheus. » Logan pointed out.

« You're all boring. » he turned to the other side and, after half an hour, he gave out to his tiredness.

Ever since then, Logan started visiting whenever he could between shifts and free work days, sometimes he would stay for dinner, other times they would all watch movies together. Mostly Logan realized how he much had caught them in his heart and wanted to help around as much as it was possible for him.

Especially since that one other rather emotional night – again, in vino veritas – in which Janus had told him how hard it was to do everything on his own.

He obviously hadn't meant to ask Logan to do everything for him, but it was also a pretty important call for assistance and the astronomer was more than happy to fulfill the position.

« I apologize, » Janus had called from the hallway one evening. « Remus is having some trouble tonight, I'll be back in a minute, you can start watching anything if you'd like. »

It had been fairly twenty minutes since Janus had disappeared behind Remus's door: Logan couldn't help but be concerned, thus he got up, intending on asking whether some help was needed.

His purpose hadn't been to eavesdrop initially, really.

« Virgil had told Anguis that her stories were delightful, » Janus had told Remus as he stroked his hair. Remus's eyes were red and puffy. « He told her she should've pursued her dream and come to Earth to tell humans our adventures around space. He was the one to finally convince her, you know? She shined brighter than I had ever seen her. I was so happy she had made that choice. »

« I still am. I'm very glad we came to Earth. Even after everything that has happened, I couldn't imagine living million of years running through space without you. Without Logan. I'm happy to have fallen down here rather than be up there. »

« I still miss some stars, I miss Roman and Virgil very dearly … I had barely a chance to meet the others, but … I don't regret leaving them behind for this. »

Remus only stared at him, but seemed to nod and ultimately hug Janus tightly.

Logan couldn't make out what they murmured to each other, especially as he got lost in his thoughts.

So there were others?

« Oh- » he didn't notice Janus coming out of the room right after. « Oh f- Uh, how much did you hear? »

« Enough, I think. » Logan was still zoned out, which made him seem like he was completely uncaring.

« Well, uhm, you know how … stories you tell kids am I right? You pretend- »

« I'm an astronomer, Janus, » Logan begun, focusing on the other's eyes. « I know a lot about stars. I've seen you and Remus's faces literally light up. I also know stars can be people, you don't have to lie to me. » his tone was soothing, he still couldn't believe he had met another one. « I met one of you before, his name is Thomas. Thomas Sanders, to be specific. »

Janus's eyes widened. « The- The actor? »

« Exactly. I helped him out when he fell – right behind my house, to his luck – and as of now, we grew apart since he has been profoundly busy. We are still in contact, though. We actually meet up from time to time. »

« That … » Janus's expression was priceless, a mixture of disbelief and amazement. « I have no idea how to describe how I'm feeling right now.

Logan loved it so much.

« Thomas is writing a movie script as of now. He's given one of the characters my name. »

« You. » Janus pulled Logan away from the hallway. « Are, as of now, the coolest human being of my knowledge. »

They sat down on the couch, letting the TV show be their background noise.

« Why, I'm rather flattered. »

« Okay. » Janus took the glass of wine he had left on the table earlier, before taking a small sip out of it. « I'm ready. »

« For? »

« My actual life story. »

Logan tilted his head and laid back, ready to let the other talk. It had already been a stressful night, why not stay on theme?

« My sister and I were formerly two shooting stars. We used to travel through space and meet a wide range of stars, galaxies and planets. It was wonderful. Then we fell on Earth by choice. We quickly adapted to its customs somehow. Anguis and I met Clyde, they fell in love and I put my feelings aside in their favor, since … I heard my love isn't exactly condoned here. » he took another sip.

« When I told you she fell ill, it was actually her star self shutting down. She ultimately became stardust under our very own eyes. Clyde feared Remus and I would end up the same way, since even my nephew's part star. And then we were left alone. » he opened his arms. « I hope this tale entertained you as well. »

Logan didn't say anything before surging forward and taking Janus in a tight embrace. He wasn't intending on letting go anytime soon, especially when he felt his friend's sobs on his shoulder.

« What if it really happens? W-what if I lose Remus in the span of a week? I couldn't bear it. »

« What if you don't? What if he spends a wonderful fulfilling life thanks to the possibilities you're offering him? What if you get to see him grow old and spend all your last moments knowledgeable that he is happy thanks to you? Because never in your life the thought of abandoning him ever crossed your mind. »

Logan tightened his hug. « You are a spectacular guardian, Janus. Take it from someone who knows how it feels to be neglected. You have nothing to fear, and it's normal to feel doubtful every now and then. » he loosened it after, so he could look him in the eyes. « Whatever happens, you can face it like you have always done. Okay? »

Janus nodded and muttered a low okay, right after he almost didn't register Logan giving him a forehead kiss.

« I hope you will feel more free to tell me anything that bothers you, now that I know. »

« You're the only one I can turn to. » Janus smiled sadly, averting his eyes.

« Well then, » he took his hands and guided him on his feet. « I am honored to be at your service. Come, now. »

Logan took him to his bedroom so he could rest sooner, but as he helped him lay down, he felt something tug at his shirt. He turned and saw Janus's fingers laced on the fabric.

« Could you stay? » he drowsily asked, his voice barely audible like he was afraid to talk any louder, or at all.

Logan smiled softly and nodded; he proceeded to close the front door and turn off the lights for him. Afterwards, he laid next to the other and stroked his hair until he fell asleep.

He was confused.

Had he always felt attracted by him because of the star's pull, or were his feelings lying to him? Why did he care so much? Why did he want to do anything in his power to ease their lives?

Why hadn't he stopped to caress Janus's face and look at him as soon as he'd fallen asleep? Why would he rather have him in his arms like before?

He wanted to hold his hand longer, let him know he was there in case he had a nightmare.

Still, Janus had simply asked him to stay.

That he was going to do.

After that night, Logan had chosen to give Janus some more space. A few days had passed when he received a very welcome message from one of his acquaintances.

He was quick to text Janus about it as well: Thomas had just asked him if they could meet up that week, which would've been the perfect time for them to meet as well.

They could have also shared their experiences and get other stuff off of their chests, stuff only both of them would understand. Plus he was sure it would've been nice to have someone like you to talk to for instance.

Not even a minute after, Janus wrote back to him, talking about how excited he would've been to meet up with them as well.

It all led to one particular afternoon at a café, Logan had just introduced Janus and Remus to Thomas, who they found out used to be a very small galaxy on the brink of  crashing and becoming a black hole. He lost all of his stars, but at least he saved himself.

He confessed he had a freckled pattern of them on his back.

It didn't surprise him how they clicked immediately.

Thomas talked about his project, this movie where he would talk to different aspects of his personality and work through issues about himself and grow as a person.

« The funniest bit about this is that I'm not human, thus I experienced the most childish dilemmas at an old age. » as Thomas chuckled, Janus was sure he had seen the galaxy's stars in his eyes twinkle as well.

« But enough about me, Logan told me you tell wonderful stories! » Thomas's eyes lit up immediately. « I also asked him a bit about you in general, and honestly dude. You give me major Disney villain vibes. »

Janus put a hand on his chest. « Why, thank you. »

Thomas chuckled. « I was thinking, would you like to contribute to a character I have in mind? He's pretty complex and I have a feeling your thinking would suit him amazingly. »

« Oh. » Janus's mouth hung open. « I … I don't know what to say- »

« Yes! Say yes, I want my character too! Can I have one? » Remus jumped out from his seat and leaned over Thomas as the other man giggled. « I want something gross! »

« I like your unusual thinking, kiddo. » Thomas rested his chin on his hand. « I do have an idea for a character correlated to intrusive thoughts … What's your favorite color, Remus? »

« Green! »

The former galaxy pulled out a notebook from his bag, taking down everything he had just learnt. « I can work with that. »

« Hey uncle, you think we could add Roman and Virgil too? Maybe even Patton? »

Janus cleared his throat, ready to say something similar to the fact that they shouldn't impose anything on Thomas, but was promptly cut off by the man himself as Logan told Remus he had had a wonderful idea.

« Oh? » a sly smile appeared on his lips. « Do tell me more about them? »

Janus scratched his neck and let his hand rest on his shoulder. « Uhm, it's kind of a long story, but it's about these two stars my sister and I met before falling on Earth. »

The former galaxy couldn't have seemed more intrigued: Remus came to the rescue, providing an insightful summary of the previous events, with Logan's assistance, justifying some space facts Thomas had forgotten during his life on Earth.

« You absolutely have to tell me more, dude. »

« As you wish, » Janus assumed his usual storytelling position on the café's seat, looking then both at his nephew and Logan. « Are you guys ready for the great finale? »

✾✾✾✾

In an instant, Virgil had found himself on the ground; Emile had thrown him down so the second blow of Zeta wouldn't have hit him as much, but the Sun kept running, aiming to protect the Moon with everything he had in his potential.

Virgil's every limb was trembling as he pulled himself up by the elbows, sliding forward until he reached something to sustain himself up: he looked around and saw the stupidest star in the galaxy doing the stupidest thing in the universe.

Roman was already standing, trying to coax whatever had caused Zeta to explode, without success.

« You! » she roared, as Emile and Remy started gathering stars around to let them out as fast as they could. « You are an hypocrite! After everything I've done for you! » there was another blow, to which Virgil reacted by doubling over again.

Roman stood still, which was permitted by his star's strength. « I'm sorry I can't reciprocate your feelings Zeta! I can't fake them either! »

« Shut up! »

As another blow hit the room, Virgil tried to slither on the floor the closest he could to the couple: it was then that he understood Roman was numbing down Zeta's crashing energy by taking all the blows on himself.

That idiot.

Roman made a false move by averting his gaze to Virgil on his right, rather than focusing on the soon-to-be runaway star. Zeta followed it, feeling the burning of her insides even stronger than before.

In that single second of haziness, chaos was unleashed.

They all had less than a second to react: Roman ducked to his right, using himself as a shield to protect Virgil, still disoriented by the previous blow.

A single hit from her curve and Virgil would've been detached from their binary system and become a runaway star as well.

Emile rapidly pushed Remy out of the palace along with the other stars, fearing for their well-being as he already knew the consequences Zeta was going to cause.

When he turned back, hearing the Moon's “wait!” before closing the entrance, she had already been violently circulating in the room, everything she hit crumbled to pieces, her final goal being the two stars that had caused her infinite dolence.

She had spiraled out of control.

« Roman! » Emile tried to avoid the falling bricks of marble in every direction, shielding his eyes from the dust. « We cannot withstand her power any longer, we have to leave! »

Virgil looked rapidly between the two, shortly glanced at where Zeta was heading and ran in her opposite direction, taking Roman's hand in his as the Sun went along them.

The entrance had already been blocked, thus there was a single emergency exit remaining: the balcony.

The three ran down the hallways, scrambling to their feet here and there everytime Zeta crashed into the walls and the ceiling, the lights already out.

Everything went wrong when Roman let go of Virgil's hand and locked him and Emile out of the hallway, free to run to their salvation.

They immediately turned to him.

« What the fuck do you think you're doing? » Virgil punched the glass door, while Roman's expression displayed determination and slight regret.

« I'm the strongest star between all of us. I can keep her at bay as you guys get to a safe location- Please, just let me do this. »

« Are you out of your mind?! And leave you in this crumbling place where you'd never get out alive? » Virgil powered up, his eyes and fists becoming pure light and fire. He punched the glassed entrance further, breaking it instantly this time.

Roman's eyes widened and he watched Virgil tug him down by the shirt.

« Don't you get it? It's you, you fool. It's always been you. » Virgil's voice sounded between desperate and on the verge of crying, in need to let out all of the words he'd never been able to before. « I had a hard time admitting it to myself because I was scared but it's always been you I loved. »

Roman couldn't quite believe the words he was hearing, thinking he had to be hallucinating after all the hits taken by Zeta. Tears welled up in his eyes before he could register them, he then raised a hand to cup Virgil's cheek.

« And now I don't care anymore. I don't care, either we die because of a black hole or for a runaway star, it doesn't matter! » he breathed in, hiccuping in the middle of it, before looking back up at Roman. « I will be with you, because I love you. I love you and I'm not scared. »

Roman felt hysterical, letting out a muffled laugh between his sobs. « I love you too. » he took Virgil's face in both his hands and pressed their lips together almost desperately. And there he knew there hadn't been a collision he would've wanted more than that one.

As they parted, Virgil turned to Emile, who had been trying to reduce the blows for as long as they could have some more minutes.

« Go. You're way too important. »

Roman nodded. « We will handle it. »

The Sun spared them one last look, one of those that meant everything from gratitude to the deepest admiration.

When he was gone, Virgil took Roman's hand yet again, maybe for the last time, he thought, and they ventured back in the halls together.

They tightened their grips the more the crashes became unsustainable.

Looking at the ceiling and up ahead, the two understood there was no way for them to progress any further. Roman placed them in front of a window, then he called Zeta to them.

As she inverted her course to reach them, the two embraced each other.

« Scared? » Roman murmured, looking in his eyes.

« Not one bit. » Virgil's soft and imperceptible smile was exactly what Roman would've wished to see last of him.

A blinding light surrounded them, both powering themselves up to take in Zeta's hit and protect each other as best as they could.

Then, the final blow came.

And everything turned dark as a black hole.

It didn't take much for the Sun and the Moon to reconstruct a palace for the sunset dance of the same day, apart from a small eclipse to be formed as the two worked together.

For the first time in forever, they took much longer to show up.

Remy and Emile kept each other's balance as they checked their previous half destroyed palace; the remains kept perfectly gravitating in the same place as before, as though the signs left by Zeta hadn't mattered or damaged them at all.

There was hope, they couldn't deny it, the kind of hope that set yourself up for disappointment.

It was on their third time of jumping around bits of pavement that they decided to give up, sure that there wasn't anything they had left behind.

On the Sun's hallway, where everything was unusually almost untouched, compared to the rest of the building, Remy held Emile's hands as he helped him down a pile of debris.

Something glowed from under their feet, reflecting its light on Remy's sunglasses for a brief moment: they immediately looked down and crouched as their partner curiously asked what he had noticed.

Remy inspected the marble rocks, until he felt some that had definitely a warmer temperature.

Either that was where Zeta had last gone, or …

« Help me take these away. » the Moon's resolute voice made Emile immediately comply.

There it was.

There they were.

Surrounded by a faint purple light, Virgil and Roman laid on the floor in each other's arms, unconscious.

Remy and Emile exchanged looks before lifting a star each and walking away from the desolate place.

Virgil's eyes opened as Emile and Remy parted in each other's new wings, his foggy vision permitted him to make out barely Roman's blacked out face in the distance.

« Ro- » Remy noticed him shifting in their arms. « Did I? No- » he whined, but the Moon shushed him kindly and, just like that he nodded off to sleep again.

Roman didn't comprehend why he had woken up in the Sun's room.

He pulled himself up from the bed, noticing how the room's seemed to have been re-decorated.

Like they had completely changed places.

It hit him in that exact moment, when he saw his ballroom clothes completely different, the pounding headache barely healed.

He made it?

Did that mean …?

Before he knew it, he was running in the hallway.

And someone was running towards him, hugging him on sight.

« For all the galaxies, Roman! » Patton squeezed him tight like he hadn't seen him in a billion eons. « That was not the right time to play the hero! » Patton pulled away that much to look him in the eyes. « I am so glad you're alive. » he then said, his voice as broken as the window he last remembered.

Canopus was right along him, but, differently from him or the Sun and Moon's warm expressions, she looked melancholy.

Roman had always suspected she had feelings for Zeta.

He approached her and took her hand in his. « I'm sorry. It's m- »

« She did it to herself. » she admitted, before looking up. « It would've been worse if you lied to her only to please her. » she displayed a sad smile. « I would've hated you only on that occasion. It's okay, Roman. I'm going to be alright. »

Roman realized he had underestimated Canopus's strength, but he was grateful he did.

And now, the big moment.

« Where …? »

« Where you already know. »

Emile and Remy parted to let a path behind them, which was leading to two massive golden doors.

Roman paced towards them, wasting no time in fiddling with the handles as he pushed them open.

If he ever had to imagine what happened to stars when they died, he wished it was exactly like that.

That palace's terrace was much bigger than the one they last saw Emile on; Virgil was waiting, looking at the sunset take place in front of him in the distance, unaware of his system partner.

He only turned around as he heard Roman sigh in relief at his sight.

As much as he wanted to run to him instantly, he kept one hand on the parapet and simply looked fondly at him as Roman stepped towards him.

Roman took his free hand and leaned on the rails as well, taking one quick glance at the beauty of nature.

He made slow movements, trying to realize whether or not Virgil was real, before circling him with his arms around Virgil's waist.

« Still not scared? » he whispered it like a secret between them.

Virgil's cheeks had already lit up as soon as he exited the ballroom. « I won't ever be anymore. » he confessed, resting his forehead against Roman's.

And it was true.

At last, he wasn't scared to touch him anymore.

At last, there were no more secrets to be uncovered.

At last, they could dance together.

✾✾✾✾

Silence followed Janus's last words: he waited for reactions, but all he saw were the three's gazes fixed on the table, Thomas's mouth ajar, like he had just made the deepest revelation.

« I- » Thomas looked back at the storyteller. « I loved everything you said. I loved every single word you pronounced, holy stars! » he tried to compose himself. « This is incredible. Just- Listen, this is going to sound very sudden, but- Would you ever consider being a script-writer with me? We could work on this movie together, your way of talking- I'm sure it would be just as wonderful if you wrote all of that down. Your words are magnificent! »

Janus had met him to be able to talk to someone like him, and there he was, being offered one of the most astounding jobs in his life.

He was stunned.

Remus hit his hands on the table. « Absolutely! » he answered in his uncle's stead. « Please, join my uncle! »

« I- » Janus's face broke into a wide smile. « It can be arranged, yes. » he laughed slightly. « I would love to! » he almost didn't notice Logan's hand in his.

He didn't definitely notice the astronomer's affectionate gaze, feeling not only butterflies but an entire species of animals running in his stomach at the sight of Janus's excitement.

Oh, how he loved the way his face lit up, how his eyes glimmered bright even on a sunny day.

« Wonderful cause I have plenty of new ideas! I might even consider Remy and Emile somewhere … »

The conversation went on, but Logan wasn't able to hear anything else other than how melodious Janus's voice sounded all of a sudden.

Janus couldn't stop talking about it even after they arrived back at the apartment, barely able to exit his car while Remus had already gone up the stairs and opened the door to let himself in.

« I just- For the Moon, Logan! A scriptwriter! Beside a famous actor who used to reside in space! » he had taken Logan's hand in his own. « I'm simply blown away! »

They stopped at the beginning of the stairs.

« Gosh, this is all thanks to you. » Janus looked up at him, sparkles all around him as he smiled fondly.

Logan's heart couldn't have possibly been happier, finding the sight extremely endearing.

When had they started hugging? He was so lost in his gaze …

« Your eyes are always so bright and glowy and beautiful. »

Janus blinked twice, his expression shifting slightly.

« It's like I could recognize every single constellation in them. »

He raised his hands to rest them on Logan's cheeks and brush them with his thumbs. « I love you. »

Janus leaned in and kissed him. « I love you so much. » he whispered before the other kissed him back, slowly.

They exchanged more, resonating they could never have enough, until they heard someone call from above.

« Is Logan going to be my new uncle?! »

They parted and looked up, seeing an excited Remus run around in excitement.

« Holy sh- »

« I knew it. »

✾✾✾✾

It was the day of the premiere of Thomas and Janus's movie.

The two were sitting next to Logan and Remus on the front seats, delightfully waiting for it to finally air for everybody else in the world.

Remus watched Thomas unable to stay silent one minute, his uncles holding hands, as their engagement rings glimmered in the semi-dark room.

He thought back of what life was before Logan came around, before Janus had started telling him stories of the people he and his mother had encountered.

Never would he have thought he would have been sitting in front of a soon-to-be bestseller movie's first airing, nearly two years after, with a new relative he deeply loved and new friends like him.

He hadn't known nothing of the sky.

But now he did.

Remus took Logan's hand and both he and Janus looked down at him, a genuine and caring smile on their faces as Thomas's voice echoed with the opening of the movie.

« What is up everybody?! »

He finally knew everything he needed to know.

[snowdice]

Road Trips and Missing Persons (Part 10)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Patton & Virgil, Virgil & Deceit, Logan & Patton, Emile & Remy, Roman & Remus & Janus

Characters: Patton, Virgil, Deceit, Remus, Roman, Logan, Emile, Remy

Summary: Patton was just getting groceries. The next thing he knew, there was a knife at his throat and he was an unwilling uber driver. Virgil’s on the run after the murder of his dad, and it’s not just his paranoia that’s telling him he’s being chased down. He has to get somewhere safe, somewhere he can trust, and all he has is a couple of stories from his dad and a name: “Green Bellow Foods and Dispensary.”

Notes: Secret Agents AU, knives, carjacking, kidnapping, murder mentioned, guns mentioned, pepper spray, blood mentioned, drugs mentioned, explosions (more to be added)

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve affectionately named it the Goblin Brain Fic because it’s helping my brain actually get motivated for studying. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 My Master Post

Janus could feel his heartbeat speed up at he looked at his phone, but he didn’t dare let that show on his face even though she couldn’t see him. He calmly clicked the talk button on his phone. “Hello, mother. How can I help you?” he asked.

“I’d like an update on the situation with the Gates boy,” she said.

“I’m currently on his trail,” Janus informed her. “He had an unfortunate head start because of Kinsley, but I have managed to figure out he went to the nearby grocery store and saw him on security footage. I should be making more progress soon.”

“I see,” she replied. “The boy used his phone.”

Janus took a half second to pause at that. “Well, that’s good for our aims,” Janus replied levelly. “I assume you were able to track the call.”

“Yes,” she said. “He was attempting to call his uncle. He has managed to get impressively far. I will send you the details of his location.” She paused. “Wait, it seems he’s currently attempting another call to an unknown number. Strange, there doesn’t seem to be a record of it in any database. You wouldn’t possibly know the number 499-555-0721.” Fuck. That was his other phone number… the phone number of the phone he broke earlier.

“No, I don’t,” Janus lied. God dammit. Why did he break that phone?

She hummed, seeming to accept that. “I see you are still at the grocery store. I’m sending people to meet up with you at that location.”

Oh fuck.

“Is that really necessary?” Janus asked, sounding bored. “Surely I can handle it myself.”

“It will be more efficient to have multiple people working together especially with a drive that far,” she said. He could tell by her tone that there was no room for argument.

“Of course,” Janus replied.

“Good. I have already sent them your location.” She hung up without another word.

Janus looked down at his phone. “Well,” he said. “I’m dead.”

“That bad, huh?” Remus asked.

“She’s sending people to ‘help’ me.”

“Shit.”

“You said the security cameras upload straight to the cloud, right?” Janus asked.

“Yep,” Remus confirmed.

“Well. No way out of it then.” His phone beeped with details about Virgil’s location. Calmly, Janus walked around the car and opened the door to get the atlas Remy had gotten him when he’d turned 16. He’d scoffed at it because of GPS, but he’d kept it even when he’d gotten rid of the car mother had given him for the same occasion. He opened the map of the state and circled the location Virgil was at on the map.

Just as he finished that, he was also forwarded the names and locations of the two goons coming for him. “Convenient,” he said glancing at their current positions. “Remus, remember all the times you’ve talked about wanting to blow this car to hell?”

“Yes!!” he said excitedly. “To be fair it’s any car, but yes!!!”

“Wait!” Roman said. “Why are we blowing up the car?”

“Distraction,” Janus replied. “The path they’re on should take them over Washington Bridge, so if we blow it up on that, it should delay them by quite a bit. Plus, mom can track the car and they’ll probably loop back trying to find me.”

“Isn’t there, like, a better idea, maybe?” Roman asked.

Remus reached over and put his hand over Roman’s mouth. “Shh, Roman, let me have this.” Roman shoved him away.

“We’ll go get one of your cars, drive mine to the bridge, and Remus can do his,” he waved his hand at him, “thing.”

“…I still don’t think.”

“Trust us, Ro-Ro.” Remus threw an arm around his shoulder.

“See, that makes me think this is even worse of an idea.”

“Look,” Janus bit out. “I know my mother and as soon as she figures out I’m fucking her over, they’ll be literally gunning for us. Blowing up the car will delay them as well as destroy the tracker and any information they can get from the car.

“Okay,” Roman agreed, though he still didn’t seem comfortable with it. Apparently, he’d gotten all of the responsibility in the womb.

Speaking of… Remus had already taken the laptop and packed it back up before throwing it none to gently into the trunk. Roman winced, but Janus shrugged. It was going to get destroyed anyway. In fact, Janus tossed his phone into the trunk with it.

Janus couldn’t resist smiling at the excitement in Remus’s eyes as he slammed the trunk closed and made his way to the passenger seat.

“We’re taking my car though,” Roman insisted. “I’m not getting in his death trap.”

Having seen the car for himself, Janus nodded. “Agreed.”

 They drove back to get Roman’s car and then Remus requested grabbing something from his own car.

“Why do you even have that in your car?!” Roman shouted from his car’s window as Remus unpacked explosives from his trunk.

“In case of emergencies!”

“What type of emergen-”

“This type!”

Janus just shook his head, and Remus packed the explosives into the trunk of Janus’s car and then himself into the passenger seat. Then they drove off towards the bridge only about 10 minutes away. Remus wiggled in excitement in his seat.

“Calm down,” Janus attempted to snap, but it just came out fond. Disgusting.

Remus just gave him a dopey smile.

Janus turned back to the road. “I hope you know this means your cover is blown as well.”

“Yeah, ah well, it was only a matter of time anyway,” he said, shrugging. “I will have to move though. That’s going to suck.”

Janus hummed noncommittally.

“Ooo, we should go in on an apartment together!”

Janus glanced over at him in surprise. “What?”

“And we can get a cat!” Remus said instead of answering him. “I love cats, but my current apartment won’t let me have one. That’ll be on the list of things to look for: an apartment that allows pets.”

“Why would we be moving in with each other?” Janus asked.

“Well, you’re not going to be living with mommy dearest after today and we’re best friends.”

“We’re partners,” Janus replied blankly.

“And best friends!”

“I… you… we’ll discuss this later. I have too much to think about right now.”

Remus shrugged and startled rambling about how ‘big the bomb is going to be.’ Meanwhile, Janus did his best to firmly shoved the words “best friends” as far down into his subconscious as possible.

They arrived at the bridge quickly and Janus parked his car in the middle of it; Roman parked at the other end of the bridge.

 “Well, don’t leave anything in the car,” Janus said. Remus nodded, back to bouncing up and down in his seat at the prospect of the imminent explosion.

Janus trusted Remus to know what he was doing with the explosives and simply walked away from his car towards Roman’s. There was a loud explosion when they were about 200 feet away from the car. Janus suppressed a flinch.

“You could have waited until we were completely off the bridge,” Janus commented mildly.

“But we look cooler like this,” Remus argued with a manic grin. “Plus, I saw a car coming towards the bridge on the other side and didn’t want them to get on the bridge before the explosion.”

Roman had his window rolled down when they approached. “Remus is in back.”

Remus put a hand over his heart like he’d been wounded. “I’m your brother. I should get shot-gun.”

“I am not allowing you access to the radio. I’ve been on too many road trips with you.”

“Dad’s the one who insists on playing a mix of geek rock and explicit rap music which he completely doesn’t understanding the lyrics of,” Remus pointed out with a pout.

“And I should have disowned the both of you years ago. Get in the back seat.”

“But…”

Janus ended the sibling dispute by getting in the passenger seat himself.

Remus grumbled as he got in the back seat. Janus opened the atlas and found their current location on the map. “Get on the interstate heading East,” he instructed Roman.

The question of how on Earth they were going to find Virgil when he was moving rather quickly crossed Janus’s mind, but he smothered it. They’d stop and do some investigation once they were closer to his current location. It would be fine.

Roman glanced over at him as he started to drive and sighed. “You may have control of the radio as passenger,” he offered. “Just, please do not betray me.”

Janus sent him a wry smile and let himself get distracted messing with the radio. He flipped through a few stations before landing on one that seemed to be devoted mostly to Latin pop.

“Yes,” Roman said. “A great decision.”

“No,” Remus whined when he stopped on that station and leaned back. “You’re supposed to find the one that annoys Roman the most. It’s in the spirit of the road trip.”

“That seems ridiculous,” Janus commented.

“It is,” Roman agreed.

“Noooo. Embrace the spirit of the road trip.”

“Well finding a station that Roman likes seems to annoy you the most. So, I guess I am ‘embracing the spirit of the road trip.’”

Remus made a mournful sound and Roman chortled. “You’re my new favorite person,” Roman said.

Janus found himself smiling despite himself.

“Just for that, I get naming rights for our cat,” Remus informed him seriously.

“What cat?” Roman asked.

“Janus and I are going to get an apartment together since his mom’s going to try to murder us both, and we’re going to get a cat.”

“Ah,” Roman said as though that made total sense to him. Janus guessed growing up with Remus made it easy to accept such statements. “Don’t let him name it. He’ll name it something stupid.”

“I will not!”

“You tried to name our hamster Sexy Dorito!” Roman exclaimed and then looked at Janus. “Who names a hamster… who names anything Sexy Dorito??” he asked.

“The same person who accidently died his hair neon pink on a covert mission,” Janus answered.

“Hey!” Remus said, leaning forward to insert his face between the driver and passenger seats. “No!”

“Put your seatbelt on, Remus,” Janus ordered.

“Oh, you’ve got to tell me about that one,” Roman said.

“No! Don’t betray me, Janus!”

Janus did, in fact, betray him.

Want to read more? Click below!

AO3 Part 11

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Pairings: Romantic Romile (Roman x Emile), Romantic Prandy (Andy x Pryce), Romantic Intrulogical (Remus x Logan), Romantic Sleepceit (Remy x Deceit), Romantic Anxtober (October x Virgil)

Word Count: 1,092 Words

Summary: Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts, general chaos, and Remy and Deceit are cute.

Warnings: Sex Mentions, Cursing, Cancer Mention, Sick Character, Immunocompromised Character, Nightmares Mention, Murder Mention, Death Mention, Vomit Mention, Cult Mention, let me know if I should tag anything else.

Note: Bolded and blockquoted are actions in their chatroom, not a message.

Usernames, a quick translation guide: Andy: Raccoon Man (the trashiest hero), Castor: schrodingersdumbass, Dayd: carniverousroomba, Dice: Dr. Bitch, Emile: Thera-pissed, Halley: aspermylastemail, Janus: SnekBoi, Logan: Momgan, October: eatpavementido, Orion: birdgeoisie, Patton: Papa Bear, Pollux: satantakemehome, Pryce: SwEeTvErUcA, Remus: Octopussy, Remy: Coffee Bandit, Roman: waaahluigi, Sirius: literalsunshine, Teal: uwu, Thomas: shrexy, Virgil: spipples, Vita: þiccness

A Very Sanders Group Chat: Chapter 9

3:14AM

satantakemehome: Hey, does anyone have any clue why there's nightmares galore? I was trying to sleep.

spipples: Kid, it's like 4am, go to sleep.

satantakemehome: Mother. Mother, I am Insomnia, mother. It doesn't work that way, mother.

spipples: Okay, okay, don't go all eldritch being on me, chill.

satantakemehome: Fix the Mind, mother. I crave the sleep, mother.

spipples: If you plan to be an eldritch being, go bother your uncle or visit auntie Dee in the hospital, I'm sure he'd love company in his misery up there.

SnekBoi: No. Tired.

satantakemehome: Uncle it is.

Raccoon Man (the trashiest hero): Hello Jeffrey, I am afraid.

spipples: Don't care. Got shit to deal with.

5:38AM

birdgeoisie: Hey mom, did you ever figure out what the overly murdery nightmares were about?

spipples: Yeah, it was Uncle Remus.

þiccness: FINALLY, I can say uncle bastard's name in the chatroom!

Octopussy: I fucking hate all of you.

Momgan: You popped up like a fucking goblin and whacked poor Roman in the head at four in the goddamned morning, how the fuck do you think we're going to react!?

schrodingersdumbass: Oh shit, Auntie Lo is going off on Uncle Remus.

uwu: I would give all my uwus to see this but I have to start getting ready for work sooooo

uwu is now offline

Coffee Bandit: Shiiiit, someone give him coffee stat!

literalsunshine: What do you think I'm trying do?

Coffee Bandit: Ah yes, the good child. All the rest are little punks and then we have this smol gem.

þiccness: I remember why I used to call you Uncle Asshat now.

Coffee Bandit: Thanks, kid.

þiccness: Not a compliment but alright.

Coffee Bandit: Everything is a compliment to me, kid.

þiccness: Alright edgelord.

11:17AM

spipples: It's a beautiful day out.

Raccoon Man (the trashiest hero): Almost as beautiful as your face.

spipples: You only say that because we have the same face.

Raccoon Man (the trashiest hero): Exactly, you're catching on.

spipples: I hate you.

Raccoon Man (the trashiest hero): Don't lie, little bro, it doesn't look good on you.

SnekBoi: Yeah, that's my job.

spipples: Fuck off, you've done enough damage to Thomas.' mind releasing Remus on us.

SnekBoi: I had nothing to do with that. I was at home resting off chemo still. I have a solid alibi. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish puking and see how bad my hair is because I know I saw some on my pillow.

Octopussy: goddammit not again!

SnekBoi: Well, sorry, I can't really control it, Ree. The chemo does what it wants.

shrexy: Are you okay?

SnekBoi: Probably. I mean, I'm just worried.

Coffee Bandit: Snakebabe, do you want me over?

SnekBoi: I'd love to see you, but I can't.

Coffee Bandit: What about outside in the garden six feet apart with masks on while we do light work taking care of your plants?

SnekBoi: Is this a date? It sounds like a date.

Coffee Bandit: Can be if you want it to be.

SnekBoi: So maybe 6:30 when it cools down so I'm not overheating myself?

Coffee Bandit: Sounds great, sugarbear.

SnekBoi: Yeah sounds great, Rem.

Coffee Bandit: See you there, lovely snek.

SnekBoi is now offline

waaahluigi: Remy's really out here saying 'I love you' while Dee's puking. Taking in sickness and in health a bit too seriously, huh, Rem?

Coffee Bandit: Oh absolutely, I mean, he's cute.

Octopussy: I hear screeching from Dee's room.

Octopussy: ah, nevermind, I read the backlog.

uwu: Remy's here to date cute snake men and nothing else will do.

12:17 PM

þiccness: Hey mom, can me and Halley spend the night out with Bella and Eve?

waaahluigi: Sure. Just make sure you four are careful and be home before 4am and make sure to call me if you need any help.

þiccness: Thanks, mom!

Thera-pissed: Oh, Ro, are you still coming over at 7 for dinner?

waaahluigi: Yeah, I'm just working off the headache still.

Octopussy: I regret nothing.

Thera-pissed: Alright, love, take your time. Remember, we can always just stay home and watch a movie while the kids are out.

waaahluigi: That actually sounds better than going out and hiking.

Thera-pissed: Then we'll stay in inside and watch a movie or two and have dinner there.

3:14 PM

SnekBoi: Hey, @Octopussy, can you help me up, I need to start getting ready for me and Remy's date?

Octopussy is now online

Octopussy is now offline

satantakemehome: Uncle Remus really said 'gotta go fast'

eatpavementido: remusthehedgehog.jpg

aspermylastemail: Remus is the only one of us ready to storm Area 51.

birdgeoisie: Remus about to clap some alien cheeks.

waaahluigi: You four remind me of a cult. The Cult of Remus.

aspermylastemail: We're just missing that hint of chaotic dumbass that is Castor.

eatpavementido: Don't tempt me, Roman.

waaahluigi: Or what?

eatpavementido: O̴̬̓r̴̨̠̹̾͋ ̴̦̃̆w̴̟̮̽͜ḛ̶͝ ̵̙̲͒́s̶͚͊a̵̦͚̓ͅc̴͙̤̆r̶̫̞i̴̱͉f̸̩͕̓͘i̸̛͇̟͌ͅc̷̨̢͗̈̿e̸̠̜̫̊ ̵̳̋̒y̷̞͓̩͒̓o̶͍̪̦̍ǘ̴̖̮̱̎͊ ̵̨̰͙̓̒͌ţ̸͉̜̂͂o̸̟̽̈n̸̪̤͂͌i̵͓͋̎͑g̶͎͒ḣ̵̤̤͂t̴̟̬͑̏.̸̪͆́

waaahluigi: Good Hera, fine! Just don't kill me! I have two kids to deal with and Remus and Pryce aren't trusted to raise them to not be heathens!

SwEeTvErUcA: Hey! But fair.

Octopussy: fair enough.

6:45 PM

Octopussy: in case anyone wanted a good wholesome update.

Octopussy: deceitandremyinthegarden.jpg

Octopussy: deceitandremysmilingateachother.jpg

Octopussy: deceitandremylaughing.jpg

shrexy: That is incredibly pure and wholesome, thank you for this PSA.

Octopussy: I know. It's good to see Dee be so happy around someone.

Coffee Bandit: I saw that, Remus.

Octopussy: parkourmeme.jpg

Octopussy is now offline

Coffee Bandit: Little shit.

Papa Bear: Go back to your date, kiddos! You're so cute together!

Coffee Bandit: Ah yes, everyone's supportive dad. You got it, Patt.

Coffee Bandit is now offline

spipples: Ah yes, the wholesome dad energy. It's hard to resist.

birdgeoisie: Ah yes, momther, I am hang out with Wyatt and Solace tonight. I'll be home like 9ish?

spipples: Have fun, Orion. Don't get them in trouble is all I ask, little crow.

birdgeoisie: I won't steal anymore street signs, Mom.

spipples: Or anything else that I would have to bail you out for.

birdgeoisie: Why  not just take the fun out of life?

spipples: Ah yes, such a horrible mother not wanting to bail out my son. Have fun, little crow. If you three need anything text me or call me.

birdgeoisie: I will, Mom!

birdgeoisie is now offline

spipples: Two of five kids are out having fun, one is working and two are out doing their own shopping.

eatpavementido: Does this mean you want me over?

spipples: Yesssss. Fucking come cuddle me.

eatpavementido: gottagofast.jpg

spipples: Love my boyfriend.

eatpavementido: Love you too, chaotic little shit.

Taglist: @glaxyjellyfish @chronophobica @fear-ze-queer @imma-potatoo

[yesicanbelieveitsnotbutter]

what’s that? divorced mociet au for maximum angst? don’t mind if i do!

they meet in a local park, deceit probly says something like “Nature is so beautiful, it’s a shame man tries to own her” and patton is like “omg so deep take me”

they go on sum dates

patton dives head first into love and drags dee with him

pat wants to get married, dee is unsure, but want to make pat happy so he accepts

they adopt a 3 year old logan and 1 year old twins roman and remus

tensions rises as they have two distinct styles of parenting

a friend of patton gets pregent young and asks him to raise the baby (trans!remy for added angst maybe idk)

pat agrees without talking to dee

dee finds out and they have their 1st big fight

dee agrees to raise the babe but the tension has snapped and is poisening their relationship

lil babe virge joins the famILY

deceit goes “i’ve only know virgil for a hour but if anything happens to him i will kill everyone and then myself”

they divorce and there’s an ugly custody battle

dee: “you aren’t responble enough to raise children!!!”

pat: “my baaaaabbbiiiiieeeessss!!!”

Logan (5) and Roman (3) go with Patton

Remus (3) and Virgil (2) go with Deceit

Patton moves away to a new town and they break off contact

pat enrolls his sons in a K-12 school and they do really well

dee works long hours to support his sons

he puts remus in a public school, but remus doesn’t do well in school

he gets into fights and gets expelled

dee sends him to a new school

this happens alot

dee wants to keep remus and virge in the same school, so every time remus gets expelled, he moves both of them

they never stay in the same school for more than a year

this is very stressful for dee who eventually has to move around to keep up with remus’s school-switching

this is also super hard on virgil who never learns how to make friends

dee, who is always stressed and not always there, and remus, a fuck-up who couldn’t care less, become his contants

they move to a new town before virgil’s freshman year

virge and remus go to the local highschool

remus meets roman in their classes (surprise! they have ended up in the same town patton moved to earlier!!)

they don’t reconize either other (obv they were like 3)

remus chalenges roman to a fight durring lunch

virge is like “remus no” and remus is like “remus yes”

crowd gathers and roman wants to protect his pride

they fight and it gets bloody quick

roman’s older brother, logan (:O), comes rushing in and breaks it up

he reconizes remus and virge (he got good memory or sumn)

virge is like “WTF REMUS THIS IS WHY DAD HATES YOU”

and leaves

Logan is surprised pikachu face

the whole school is buzzing with gossip of new kids und log and rom

virge skips class and hides in the liberary

logan finds him after school

logan: “bro i’m like ur older bro” virge: “wth no way bro” logan: “no no i got this picture with both of our now single parents in it” virge: “fuck dude that’s sum pretty solid evidence”

virge opens up a bit to lo

they go to the dention room together but!! patton is there (gasp) and virge is like “omg i can’t let him see me” and lo is like “ur tots right, i won’t say a word”

pat and boys leave and virge goes into dention room

but remus is gone????

suprise bitch he went home early- virge learns thru dee’s “wth are u!!” phone call

dee and boys have dinner, which doesn’t happen often

dee: “im so sorry we can’t have this more often” remus: “whatever ur cooking stinks” virge: *internal panic* cantlethimfindoutcantlethimfindout

back to pat- he’s not angry, roman, just disapointed. fighting=bad

everyone goes to be tired and upset except remus, bc he’s a bastard (look i love him, but he is a bastard)

next day is school day

people whisper about virge and reem in the hallways, but he indimidates them with his Insane Looks TM

Roman “”””forgives””””” Remus when the meet and remus shrugs and insluts his non-existent mother

logan is there and calmly reminds roman not to retaliiate

things go okay for a few weeks

virge is loney, remus is bastard, roman is trying so hard to not punch him in the face, and logan is a nerd

virge needs lo’s nerd skills to pass a test

lo teaches him at the school

ro joins one of their study sessions

at 1st he’s rude to virge but then he reliezes virge is not a bastard like remus

they become friends, an lo and virge tell ro ~The famILY Seceret~

later ro begs virge to join Drama Club

virge is like “nuuu” ro is like “pleassss” virge is like “...ok fine.”

they are doing a play version of The Parent Trap

Ro and virge gets the role of the twins 

rem makes fun of virge for his growing interest in the-ay-tar, but dee’s happy he’s putting himself out there and making friends

logan finds the play ironic lol

pat is excite!! and support!! for roman and his starring role

but then!! lo ro and virge Relieze both parents will Be There and See their Sons or Each Other

remus shows up like an eavesdropping bitch and is like “lol what if we dedicated it to them lol it be funny”

“REMUS NO”

lo’s like “welp nothing we can do bout it now”

ro: “wait! what if u and remus took the other parent of the child on stage out of the theater so they only see their child!!”

lo: unrealilistic

virge panic tm

remus gives a ton of really bad ideas

everyone goes home with this big fat problem in their minds

remus starts dropping onimous hints about the play and dee is Concern

the day of the play comes

ro and virge decied that no matter what, the show must go on

they perform and do really well, breaking both their legs (jk)

(remus throws a tomato onto the stage at the climax lol)

after the show virge finds dee an ree in the crowd

dee is super quiet and looking around (he has the program in his hand)((the program with roman’s full name)) (((which would have patton’s last name)))((((u get it))))

virge panic pt 2, but remus saves the day (whaaa) by asking to go for icecream

dee agrees and they go for sum BR

BUT! ro lo and pat had the same idea!!

they’re in the same icecream parlor!

remus stiffs a laugh

dee cooly glances over to where the pat and boys are sitting before heading over to the country to order

virge quietly follows

lo notices them and nudges ro who abruptly stops talking and looks over at dee and boys, alerting pat of their prensence

flashes of grief on pat’s face

the table is quiet before ro awkwardly picks up the conversation where he left off

dee gets a table as far away from pat &co as possible

however, he looks up once and locks eyes with patton

both tables are quiet

dee breaks the eye contact and starts talking to his boys

patton smiles sadly at his icecream

“I thing we should go home kiddos.”

at home, lo explains everything

pat nods numbly and locks himself in his bedroom

logan comforts roman

at the ice cream, dee talks to virge and remus about the play until patton leave

“so do you know them?”

virge breaks down and admits everything

remus isn’t as much as a bastrad now

dee ods calmly and they eat ice cream in silence

they next day is saturday

virge stays in his room despite remus atempts to play 

remus also locks himself in his room

dee finds logan’s cell number in virgil’s backpack and calls him

surprisingly patton picks up

they talk for a while

they agree to keep the kids in the same school

“I miss you somethimes, dee.” a pause. “Your mistake.”

dee hangs up

he looks up to where virgil’s room is and sighs.

[illogicallyinclined]

!!!!!! *inhales* Yells For Twenty Minutes

okay, so. let it be known that y’all can draw these goobers HOWEVER YOU WANT, and i will still adore them. and you. and your art. that said, for the au, i,,, did have some ideas in mind if y’all really wanna know. if so, Here We Go!!

okay, so. deceit is hispanic, with both biological parents being mexican. he is tan, but he’s got vitiligo, with a prominent white patch over his left eye. he also has dark brown hair and hazel eyes

patton, and remy are also hispanic, although only one of each of their parents were mexican. remy has black hair, brown eyes, and is notably tan, but he doesn’t speak spanish (me too, rem), which shouldn’t bother him but does. (when patton and deceit find out, they offer to teach him, which is Wholesome. he loves his lil hockey babies). patton is paler, with curly, light brown hair, freckles, and chestnut brown eyes. (he took after his mother).

roman and remus are puerto ricans with brown hair and amber eyes. roman spends more time outside when possible, so he typically has a more notable tan and lighter hair since its been partially bleached by the sun.

emile is lightly tanned, with brown eyes and brown hair, though his bangs are usually dyed pink.

logan’s a bit paler than emile, with dark brown hair, blue eyes, and sharper features.

virgil is,,, pale. goth nightmare child. his hair has been dyed black and purple, he wears eyeshadow smudged under his eyes even when he is playing, and his eyes themselves are predominantly brown, but he has partial heterochromia, so there’s a patch of green in his left eye.

hairstyles are,,, up to y’all. i honestly hadn’t thought about it too hard.

ALSO. i  uhhh very roughly sketched the home jerseys, if anyone is interested. i need help coming up with a) an actual team name, and b) last names for these boys, but y’know. schemantics. [pls send suggestions, i’m dyin scoob]

(need to design the away jersey still, hhhhhh. away jerseys tend to be predominantly white)

taglist: 

@ephemeral-afterlight @scared-ghosthunter @approximately12lbs-of-ducks @harrypotternerdprincess @ginnyfox617 @hickory-dickory-doc-k @thatonenerdphotographer @thebirdsofgay @last-holistic-renegade @hela-daughter-of-loki @logansanderslove @sotakeabitofcalpol @goldteethandacurseforthistown @theitalianscribe @ashensanity @in-a-nook-with-a-book @faycanyons

[death-kat-19]

Anxious Antics

Fandom: Sanders sides.

AU: high school Au.

Warnings: cussing.

Summary: Virgil Vice is both Awkward and Anxious at all times, this and his bad choice of friends is leading to him getting into some pretty odd situations.

This was inspired by @lefaystrent ‘s Welcome to the Neighborhood! Go read that!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Virgil Vice,his name makes him sounds like some kinda superhero alter ego, and he would be if being socially incompetent was a super power. 

Virgil was your stereotypical High school Emo, got caught up in the wrong crowd and they kind of stuck. Though he wasn’t usually one for making friends... 

he would actually rather die then try and find new friends.

And it seems like he would as here he was, dangling from his foot off a giant crane at an abandoned construction site. His idiotic counter parts were with him as well though they were safely on the ground. 

“GET ME DOWN!!!” Virgil screamed as he swayed back and forth from a wire wrapped around his black converse. He knew those things were durable, and mom said they were a waste of his money. He should invest in another pair, oh wait, he cant cause he’s gonna die! 

 The leader of there little bad boy wannabe group nicknamed deceit ,wow so edgy, finally responded “Uhhhh, you heard the man Remus go get him down!” he said shoving the worst possible man for the job forward.

“.....Okay!” Remus was quick to agree and began his climb up the rusty machinery

“no no nO NO NO!! anyone but Remus ple- Ugh!” Virgil attempted to reason though was cut off by the urge to puke as he was swung in circles from the swaying as the broken bars moved with each step Remus took. He mentally cursed his mother for making him eat dinner before he headed out as he dreaded his future career as slim shady, moms spaghetti. THIS WAS NOT THE TIME!!

Virgil’s thoughts were solely pessimistic ‘Oh god I’m gonna die I’m gonna die I’m gonna die dangling off some stupid crane cause of some stupid dare and Remus is my only possible savior! FUCKING REMUS! that boy literally got kicked out of lush for eating 4 bath bombs and as much soap as he could fit in his pants. I’m doomed!’

His thoughts soon spiraled a bit darker.

‘No one would miss me anyway. i’m a nobody. my only friends were the ones that got me into this situation. my mom just got a new boyfriend i’m sure they could get a better son who doesn’t grow up to do stupid dares from some asshole teens who were never actually nice to him!! and-’

“hey short stack give me your hand!” 

Virgil’s thoughts were cut short and he looked up. Never in his life has he been so happy to see Remus’ disgustingly painted fingernails. with some slow moving and a good reach Remus had grabbed Virgil’s hand and had pulled him toward him with a good tug Virgil’s shoe fell the fifty or so foot drop to the bottom where deceit was waiting. Though Virgil hardly noticed as he clung to Remus the entire way down the rusty machinery until he was safely on the floor. 

“Good job you did great!” deceit praised Virgil’s shoe in his hand. 

“Fuck. You.” was the only thing out of Virgil’s mouth as he grabbed his shoe slipping it on and promptly storming out of the construction site.

“Virge wait!” Remus called chasing after the traumatized boy. 

“WHAT!? what could you possibly want from me!?” Virgil asked tears dripping down his face as he trembled. 

“let me drive you home.” Remus said holding up his car keys. Deceit soon walked up behind. “Because walking home after that is of course the best idea” he mocked crossing his arms. 

“.....Your a dick Dee” virgil said wiping his eyes. “but yeah. a ride sounds nice Rem..” 

“Oh Dee has a huge cock i can assure you!” Remus exclaimed.  “EWW Remus! what the hell i didn’t need to know that!” he shouted but couldn’t help but laugh as the teens walked to the trashy spray painted green pick up truck that Remus owned.

~~~~~~~

Deceit got dropped off first as he was the closest. 

The ride was pretty quiet. Remus drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he drove. “.........sooo..You okay?” Remus asked glancing at Virgil. 

“huh? oh yeah. i guess so...thanks for like..getting me down or whatever” Virgil said hugging himself.

“oh. no problem. i mean if you would have fallen you would have been dead and flat as a pancake. like one of those nine eleven jumpers but like not as high up ya know!?” 

“Thanks Remus. that’s very helpful..” Virgil said just as Remus pulled up to Virgil’s home. the small house wasn’t much but Virgil couldn’t have been happier to see it. “thanks for the ride” was all he said as he left the car and walking inside. 

“OK BYE!! see you tom-” Remus exclaimed but it was cut off when Virgil slammed the door. 

“god...i need new friends...” Virgil said glancing out the window as Remus drove away. he put his house keys in the little bowl on the counter. his house was silent. ‘mom must still be out with her boyfriend.’ Virgil thought as he picked up the mail from next to the bowl of keys. “bill, bill, ad, ad, bill huh?” there was a letter with his name on it. it was sealed with wax. “What is this fucking Hogwarts?” he walked into the kitchen and opened it with a butter knife. he pulled out the letter. it was written in the nicest handwriting he had seen in his life. ‘what was this wrote by a god damn android? no one has this handwriting!’

Dear, Virgil Vice

    Salutations my name is Logan Berry and I am a Junior Valedictorian at Hollenbrook High. A group of students at our school including me have been assigned to offer potential students a full time scholarship to Hollenbrook’s out of state trip. Our Student president Patton Hart has decided that a variety of students from other schools should be able to experience the same this us more privileged students do. I have chose you from Grindlelor Highschool because of your great Grade Point average and lack of other school activities leading to you most likely being free for the trip. Please get back to me as soon as you can. 

                                                             Sincerely, Logan Berry. 

‘Wait what? The Hollenbrook out of state trip!? that’s like a thousand dollars a student! out of state is putting it lightly those freaks end there trip by going to Europe! there’s no way this can be real. this is a total prank....doesn’t Remus’ brother go to that school?’ 

“ill have to just ask tomorrow i guess.” he said as he pocketed the letter and went to bed. it had been an eventful night he just wanted to watch shitty YouTube videos and sleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading! i’m 100% open for constructive criticism as this is the first thing i’ve written for awhile and i’m looking to improve. I hope you like it!

[donttellthemangosiwashere]

Creativitwins as... (1: Ball Pit)

Creativitwins as things me and my twin brother have done, part one of who knows man

I am remus and my twin bro is roman. no shit, nearly 1 to 1 re-skinning of one of our childhood moments

Tags: Human au i guess? I cast Deceit as dad so there's that, couldn't decide between him and Logan for a while but i think this fits. Sympathetic Deceit and Remus, clearly. Creativitwins fluff, some light violence (like a snowball fight sort of game… i dunno me and my bro were little stupid)

---

     Roman and Remus loved to play in the McDonald's playpen, with all the colorful plastic balls, pretending to themselves that the rainbow orbs were fairies that swarmed inside a bottomless pit. Roman preferred to pretend the fae gathered there to hold children up and keep them from falling forever; Remus liked to think they were evil fey, trying to drag you down to your doom. 

     They turned the two 'theories' into a game -- they would play the meddling fairies, and gather plastic balls to dump on each other in an attempt to bury the other deeper into the pit. Roman was faster and more dexterous, swimming through the pit like a graceful dolphin in a sea of orbeez, gathering armfuls and armfuls to dump on his brother, balancing an impressive amount of toys for someone with no stable feet on the ground.

     Remus was more furious and frantic in approach, easily swept up in the excitement of competition. He settled on grabbing smaller handfuls of the colorful plastic balls around him (not the ones dumped on his head, cause those were Roman's points and fair is fair) and chucking them at his brother so they lightly popped off his shoulders and started to pile around him like a volcano. Roman would dive around to collect more ammunition, ruining Remus's slowly climbing mountains, but he never swam back up farther than he had last been buried, keeping the points between them consistent.

     While Roman could duck around and swim through the pit, Remus had trouble moving through the ocean at all, especially once he started to get buried pretty deep in. His throwing technique and incredible aim for a five year old made up for it, but never quite enough to win. Roman's gather-and-dump method usually just resulted in the rainbow globules bouncing off of Remus's head and rolling far enough away that they didn't count, but Roman moved so fast and gathered so many that he was doing more damage in the long run. Every game would end with Remus, now fully submerged, grabbing Roman's ankles and dragging him down with him into the pit, leaving them both surrounded by colored bubbles that glowed ever so slightly with the light seeping in from the nearby giant playhouse window. 

     It was like standing inside a rainbow, surrounded like being plunged into the deep end of a pool, but perfectly able to breathe, no more than the pressure of a heavy quilt around their bodies. The vibrant colors, cool touch of plastic, and golden sunlight breaking through in streams gave it a magical feel. It was one of their favorite places, despite the number of times other kids had jumped into the pit and landed on one of the buried boys, assuming they had the fairy pool to themself. They would stay there underneath the tide, cackling over their game and how Remus cheated every time by grabbing his ankles, until their vivid imaginations got the best of them and they made their way out, afraid of drifting too close to the part of the bottomless pit that didn't have fairies to save them. (The day they were old enough and tall enough to discover the bottom of the mock-pool was a very boring day indeed.)

     Today, like any other day after being picked up from school by their father, they were taken back to the fast food restaurant, who hoped that they would tire themselves out enough to take naps once they got home. As soon as they were done eating, they dashed for the ball pit, ignoring their guardian's usual joke about how they shouldn't go swimming right after they eat. It wasn't real swimming, dad.

     And so the game began. Remus shimmying madly as he tried to gain some sort of motor function in the mess of colors, lobbing globes at his brother as he ducked around and meticulously gathered one of each color, making sure he had at least one complete rainbow to start the game. They didn't notice when another, slightly older kid joined them in the pit, watching them cavort around and laugh and screech. They did notice when a yellow ball smacked against Roman's neck, catching him off guard and making him swallow his laughter. They both turned and gave the newbie a confused, borderline angry look. He just shrugged, grabbed another, and threw at Roman again. Roman ducked that one easily, then dove down into the rainbow sea, scaring the other boy a little bit. (Remus decided it was, in fact, Roman being freaking weird, and not Remus being unable to swim.)

     Roman popped back up in front of the stranger gathered some orbs into his arms, and dumped them onto the kid's head with a smile.

     "No, you play like this!" He explained with a laugh when the other kid gave him a disgusted expression.

     "That's no fun, I wanna throw 'em, like he does."

     "I wasn't throwing!" Remus grumbled, offended at the accusation, "I was tossing, totally different! See,"

     Remus grabbed a blue globe and 'tossed' it to Roman, and Roman didn't flinch as it softly batted his shoulder and bounced away. Roman turned to the other kid with the same smile still on his face,

     "Like that! You can play, but you can't hurt anybody."

     "Okay." He nodded, and started pulling more toys to himself as if gathering for a snowball fight. Roman dolphined away again, gathering another pile. Roman switched between the new player and his brother, Remus had no trouble picking favorites, his crosshairs never leaving his brother's torso. Unfortunately, the new kid had the same idea, and the notion of "don't hurt anybody" went completely ignored. He kept beaning Roman, plastic orbs whizzing by his head and slapping into him with audible thwacks, and Remus knew they couldn't hurt that bad, but he was still getting more and more furious. 

     Finally, it happened. A red ball, right into his open eye. Roman stopped ducking around, little hands holding the front of his face as it scrunched up, in an expression Remus recognized as him desperately trying not to cry. Fed up, Remus wiggled furiously until he was facing the new kid, and he threw a ball at him to get his attention. He might have been aiming for his head, sure, but that was totally warranted, Remus thought. (Besides, he missed.)

     "Hey! That hurts, stupid! Stop throwing!"

     "Be nice!" Roman managed between his hands, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. They were red and puffy, but his eyes hadn't fallen out or anything, which was something Remus had worried for a moment -- his imagination manifested in strange ways.

     "You can't play if you're going to be mean!" Remus demanded, putting his metaphorical foot down, as when he tried to stomp his feet literally it was incredibly disorienting to not land on anything hard, and did in fact look a little ridiculous. The other boy glared at him and stuck his tongue out, and Remus felt the heat blaze up his cheeks.

     Just as he decided to return the gesture, he felt the soft plips of plastic rain on his head as colored globes bounced off his head, and he saw his smiling brother out of the corner of his eye. Remus elected to ignore the other kid in favor of playfully shoving his brother down into the pit by his shoulders and laughing,

     "Ew, gross, I had my mouth open, Ro!"

     "Eww! Sorry!" Roman laughed, disappearing under the bubbles.

     "They taste like feeeeet! ... You should try one--"

     "EW, Rem, stop!"

     He forgot about the other boy in seconds, his attention wholly consumed by the urge to bury his brother into the fae-swarmed sea of death below their feet. He gathered the little plastic toys, throwing two or three at a time, flailing around with every limb in his fervor to compete. In the chaos of his own disastrous dance, he didn't even feel it when the purple sphere thumped harshly against the back of his head, thrown from just a few feet away. He hardly noticed that he hadn't seen Roman come back up in a while, assuming he was still swimming around, looking for a strategic position out of Remus's throwing range. He didn't even think to look at the floor outside of the playpen, where Roman had climbed up, and was jogging behind him.

     He did hear the screaming.

     His head whipped around, just barely catching the sight of Roman in the air, descending like an unfurled cannonball onto the other kid. He landed on the older boy, and started wailing on him with both arms, punching him and yelling and the kid haphazardly swung back and screamed in return. Remus watched for a few seconds, totally in awe, until he felt the bruise forming at the base of his neck and realized what had spurred this attack on. He started writhing, trying to get over to them and so something -- pull the older kid off of Roman? Maybe. Help Roman punch the life out of him? More likely -- more furious now with his inability to swim in fairies than ever.

     He heard a woman yelling, and turned to look back at the eating area where she was standing, but he didn't listen to what she was saying. He was more concerned with the look on his father's face -- bowler hat pulled down at an angle to subtly hide himself from the mother's vision, other hand clasped over his mouth, a fervent and obvious smile in his eyes as he urgently and unsuccessfully willed himself not to laugh. When she made a move towards the three of them, Dad stood up, beating her to the door as he walked over and stood in front of the still dueling duo. He told Roman to let the other kid go. Roman kept swinging.

     He said it again, more sternly this time.

     Roman kept swinging.

     He crouched down in front of him and grabbed his shoulders, yelling now.

     Roman shrugged him off.

     Remus was grinning madly now, and Dad gave Roman an incredulous look as he continued to beat down on the stranger, his mother still yelling from the doorway. Dad grumbled and stepped into the pool -- an absolutely beautiful expression on his face as he almost slipped, and had to catch himself -- and grabbed both boys by their shirts, forcibly dragging them away from each other. Roman was still struggling, relaxing only when the other boy immediately ran behind his mother's legs as soon as he was released. 

     Dad scolded Roman for a second, then let him go and went to talk to the strangers. Roman trudged through the pit, joining Remus closer towards the middle. They didn't say anything for a long time, a frustrated pout on Roman's face as Remus smiled like he had just been given Christmas early.

     "You're in trouuubleeee~!" Remus sang, shimmying his shoulders as Roman finally cracked a smile.

     "He deserved it, he was a bully!" Roman huffed, but Remus saw him puffing out his chest just slightly.

     "You actually started a fight! Dad's gonna kill you."

     "Wha-- I didn't start it! He started it!"

     "Boys!"

     They both jumped, a shared panic flashing through their eyes as they slowly turned to face their father. He was looking down at them with a painfully neutral face, and gestured for them to get out of the pool. Remus had half a mind to let the bottomless pit take them to Narnia or something, but Roman was already helping him up onto the carpeted floor. 

     The walk to the car was silent -- and thank god Dad and the Lady didn't make them apologize to that kid, or a now mobile Remus would have socked him just to prove a point -- and when they clambered into the back seat, they waited for him to say something. He slowly closed the drivers side door, clicked in his seat belt, started the engine, adjusted the mirror, stalling...

     And then he started laughing.

     Remus and Roman looked at each other, wide eyed, identical grins creeping onto their faces.

     "You two are going to be the death of me. Wait until your father hears about this."

     "So we're not in trouble?" Roman asked sheepishly, a stark contrast to the giddy swinging of his legs. Dad laughed again.

     "You would have been the only one in trouble, Roman. Violence is not the answer to a problem." Dad scolded, and Roman deflated a little, until Dad reached back from his seat, turning to face the boys and ruffling their hair in turn.

     "But, I'm proud of you for sticking up for each other, in your own way... Besides -- don't tell your father i said so -- but he totally deserved it."

     The radio switched on, blaring Disney music as laughter exploded from the troublesome twins.

[amintyworld]

Deceitber Day One: Baby it’s Cold Outside

A/N: Okay, I guess I’m doing this! I’ll try to write one every day of December. Day One: Humming to Christmas Music. Song lyrics from the original tune “Baby it’s Cold Outside”. Enjoy!

TW: Demus centered and implied, Overworked Remus, Sympathetic Remus, Sypathetic Deceit, kissing, alcohol.

Summary: When Remus becomes a workaholic, Deceit has a plan to take him away from his work for good.

------------

“Remus! Come on! You need to take a break, darling!” Deceit called to his boyfriend, who stood hunched over a desk, focusing his energy creating something. Something that has taken nearly the entirety of the day, Remus never even stopping for a break. 

“Five more minutes, Dee.” Remus said, not even looking up. “It’s nearly finished, I promise.”

“Remus, you said that over a hour ago!” Deceit hissed. Stomping his foot angrily, he had had enough. He grabbed Remus’s arm, teleporting them inside a cabin in the imagination, a blizzard raging on outside.

“Dee, please...”

Deceit snapped his fingers as a familiar tune began to play. “Come on, darling.” He said, smiling. “a break never hurt anyone. Besides, it’s freezing outside. Ssstay here. With me.”

Remus shook his head, standing. “I really can’t stay.” He sang along with the tune. Deceit took his lead.

“But, baby it’s cold outside.”

Remus started walking to the door. “I've got to go away.”

“But baby it’s cold outside.” Deceit said, taking his arm and pulling him close. Remus looked a bit flustered, but tried to keep his cool.

“This evening has been...”

Deceit smiled. “Been hoping you’d drop in.”

“...so very nice.” Remus said, trying to pull away and head for the door.

Deceit raised up his hand intertwined with Remus’s. “I’ll hold your hands, they’re just like ice.” Deceit said, cupping Remus’s head with his other hand, and Remus pulled away quickly, turning toward the door, his creation on his mind.

“My mother will start to worry...”

Deceit stood in the way. “Beautiful, what’s your hurry?”

Remus tried to squeeze past him. “My father will be facing the floor...”

Deceit cut him off. “Listen to that fireplace roar...”

“So really I’d better scurry...” Remus said, turning the handle on the door, until Deceit pinned him up against it, lips inches apart. 

“Beautiful please don’t hurry...”

Remus smiled, trying to hide his shocked blush at how close they were. “But maybe just a half a drink more...”

Deceit scooped Remus up, giggling, placing him on the couch. “Put some records on while I pour...”

Deceit summoned some wine and set it on the table. Remus looked nervously toward his brother’s castle in the distance.

“The neighbors might think...”

Deceit leaned on his shoulder. “Baby, it’s bad out there...”

Remus looked down at the wine, swishing it around. “Say, what’s in this drink?”

“No cabs to be had out there...” Deceit sang, cuddling his boyfriend close.

Remus looked up at his snake boyfriend, noticing they way his eyes sparkled. “I wish I knew how...”

“You eyes are like starlight now...”

“To break this spell...” Remus sang, leaning in closer, his hands on Deceit’s chest.

“I’ll take your hat,” Deceit sang, ruffling Remus’s hair, giggling. “Your hair looks swell...”

Remus looked toward the window again. “I really can’t stay...”

Deceit waved his hands, almost dismissing it. “Get over that old out...” He suddenly smirked, an idea coming to mind as he slid his arms over Remus’s shoulders. 

They locked eyes, singing together. “Baby it’s cold...Baby it’s cold outside-!” Deceit quickly locked lips with his boyfriend, Remus, shocked at first, melted into the kiss. They eventually pulled away, both smirking.

“Not a bad singer, Dee.”

“Not so bad yourself, Rem.”

----------------

December Taglist (let me know if you want to be added!):

@dragonindigo245

[reginrokkr]

Tag dump #3: Connections & ships.

◟༺✩༻◞ Crystallize your sorrow into everlasting frost to reach the promise of light.┊Ace × Kurasame┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Your dreams and existence will find light beyond the paradox; o’ golden star.┊Ace × Stella┊

◟༺✩༻◞ Melody of kindness. ┊Deuce.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Fearful knowledge. ┊Trey.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Valor’s illusion. ┊Cater.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Unbeatable innocence. ┊Cinque.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Intrepid tenacity. ┊Sice.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Audacious discernment. ┊Seven.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Unarmed tranquility. ┊Eight.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Thoughtless action. ┊Nine.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Naïve ignorance. ┊Jack.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Implacable wisdom. ┊Queen.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Composed judgement. ┊King.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Unbreakable love. ┊Rem.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Unrestrained fear. ┊Machina.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Ice reaper. ┊Kurasame.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Soldier of history. ┊Izana.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ We’re different from everyone else. ┊Class Zero.┊ ◟༺✩༻◞ Deceitful Mother. ┊Arecia.┊

[izzyfandoms]

Chosen - Chapter Two

(This is a Gender-Swapped Sanders Sides high school au)

SUMMARY: Logan Berry, Dee Ceite, Patricia Foster, Virginia Picani and Regina and Rena Prince are all 16-year-old high school students. They live relatively normal lives, with ordinary lessons and ordinary crushes and ordinary families, until one day a monster shows up and attacks them after class, and everything suddenly changes.

SHIPS: Moxiety, Logince, Dukeceit

WARNINGS: Sympathetic Remus, Sympathetic Deceit, swearing, minor violence mention, monsters, possession, garbage, siblings arguing, mention of being sick

GENERAL TAGLIST: @quillfics42 @ajdraws0430 @phantomofthesanderssides @creativity-killed-thekitten @phlying-squirrel @sly-is-my-name-loving-is-my-game

CHOSEN TAGLIST: @coasting-on-a-wave-of-apathy

Masterpost

PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER

“What the fuck is going on, here?” Dee exclaimed, standing protectively with Logan in front of Rena and Regina; Virge and Pat were on the twins’ other sides.

Remy and Thomas exchanged a look, having a whole silent conversation in the space of a few moments, before the woman stepped forward. She then pulled off her leather jacket – revealing a plain white t-shirt with the word ‘SLEEP’ across the front in all caps and rather muscular arms that the girls tried not to stare at. She tossed it to the trembling Regina.  

“Here, you look cold,” She said, as Rena wrapped the jacket around her sister.

Logan stepped forward. “If you two don’t tell us what’s going on, I’m going to call the police.”

Remy rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. “Yeah, yeah, of course you are. They’re definitely gonna believe that you were attacked by a monster possessing your teacher, and I’m definitely gonna stick around long enough to get arrested again.”

“Again?” Pat mumbled, but they all mostly ignored her.

Logan crossed her arms. “We… we know your name. Remy Starlight, right? They could find you, and you broke through the window, there’s plenty of evidence that something happened here.”

“Kid, I have friends in the police force,” Remy snorted. “Besides, I just saved your life, you’d really call the police on me? I’m offended. No one appreciates me.” Thomas patted her back, coughing and wincing at his obviously sore throat.

Dee put a reassuring hand on Logan’s shoulder. “We’re not going to call the police,” She said. “We just want to know what’s going on.”

“And we’re going to tell you,” Thomas added reassuringly, his voice still hoarse from coughing up gallons of… whatever that monster was made of. “It’s just a long story.”

“Is it though?” Remy took off her sunglasses, cleaning them with her shirt. “I mean, okay,” She turned to the girls, serious. “There’s four types of monsters: creatures, possessors, puppeteers and seers. Everyone has different names for them, that’s just what my family calls them. Creatures are what they sound like. Possessors possess people. Puppeteers possess people and can also control other people. Seers possess people and get visions of the future that are shared with anyone they’re touching. They all like to bite people, infect them and then eat them. Pure human blood kills them.”

The girls didn’t know how to react to that.

Remy turned back to Thomas. “See, that wasn’t hard. Now we just have to explain the weird prophecy thing and be done with it. Simple. I should do this for a living.”

Thomas sighed. “You have no sense of dramatic tension, Rem.”

“Who cares about dramatic tension?” Virge suddenly exclaimed. “This could be an elaborate scheme to kidnap us, why are we listening to them?”

“You think they faked the possession thing?” Pat asked, blinking up at her girlfriend. “That doesn’t seem possible.”  

“I- I don’t know!” Virge exclaimed, throwing up her hands in exasperation. “But we can’t just trust them!”

Remy crossed her arms. “Uh, I just saved, like, all of your lives. I think I’ve earned a little trust.”

“First, you can explain that prophecy thing you mentioned.” Dee stepped between her friends and Remy. “Forget the ‘dramatic tension,’ Mr Sanders, just tell us what’s going on, and then we can decide whether or not to trust you two.”

“Ugh, fine.” Remy sighed in irritation, rolling her eyes under her sunglasses. “About a century ago, one of my ancestors was fighting one of those seer monsters – that’s kinda what we do, we fight monsters, it’s pretty cool – and they accidentally shared a vision with one. It was basically prophesised that every sixteen years, between April 21st and April 27th, some kids would be born whose blood would have the potential to kill the mother of all monsters, the Queen. There’s a few more details than that, but that’s pretty much the gist of it. Thomas was one of these kids, he failed, and you six are this generation of potential chosen ones.”

The teenagers stared at her in shock.

“Is it set in stone?” Dee asked, the first to speak up.

Remy blinked a few times in confusion. “What?”

“Is it that one of us could be the chosen one, it just depends on our actions, or is it set in stone that a specific person is destined to be the chosen one, you just don’t know exactly who.”

“Oh…” Remy nodded in understanding. “Someone specific is fated to be the chosen one, we just don’t know who specifically.”

Dee nodded slowly as Logan adjusted her glasses, staring Remy down. “How do you know?”

“What?”

Logan sighed in slight irritation. “How do you know that the six of us specifically are this generation of potential chosen ones?”

“Well, the vision also included the helpful details of general location, general age and the fact that each of those kids would have at least one biological parent who’d been possessed before. Those things only applied to the six of you this time ‘round, which is why I’m here.”

Regina and Rena both looked rather excited at this, exchanging a look of wonder, as expected from them. Patton also looked slightly in awe, but Virge, Logan and Dee all looked a lot more suspicious and unsure than anything else.

“How are we supposed to believe you?” Virge asked, a little harshly.

At the same time, Dee said, “And you expect us to risk our lives and fight monsters for you? We could fucking die.”

Logan just stared, her brow creased.

“I’m- we’re all chosen ones!” Regina exclaimed, the horror of the near-death experience overtaken by the prospect of adventure. “That’s… that’s amazing! We’ve gotta do this.”

Logan glanced back at her, giving her a look that was half ‘you’re an idiot’ and half ‘I want you to be my idiot.’ Her expression then shifted back to a thoughtful one.

“Yeah!” Remy grinned, ignoring Virge and Dee’s protests. “Any of you could be the chosen one. Your blood could kill the Queen of monsters. She’s the only one of them that can lay eggs and have kids, so once she’s out of the picture, it won’t take long to end the monster race for good.”

“Woah!”

Logan gasped suddenly. “I have an idea. You said we’d each have a biological parent who’d been possessed once before, correct?” Remy nodded slowly. “Well, do you know which ones?”

“Yeah, my family keeps track of that kind of shit, I’ve got the files saved on my phone.”

Logan nodded, looking around at the others. “Well, then we can just ask our parents. If they can confirm Remy’s story, then maybe, maybe, we can go along with this whole ‘chosen one’ thing.”

Remy smirked slightly, pulling her phone from her pocket. She tapped at it a few times, one-handed, before glancing back up again.  

“’Kay, so, we’ve got files on all six of you, ‘cos of the whole ‘possible chosen ones’ thing. The only two parents still alive or in the picture who’ve been possessed before are Nathalie Berry and Octavia Ceite.”

Logan and Dee straightened up, exchanging a glance.

“My mom’s at work right now.” Dee said. “We’d have to wait until later to ask her.”

Logan adjusted her glasses. “I could call my mom now; she had the day off today.” She pulled out her phone and began dialling the number. “I’ll go into the hallway so as to not be interrupted.”

Thomas straightened up. “I’ll come with you; can’t let you get attacked the second you leave the classroom.” He said that last part in a humorous tone of voice that didn’t really suit the situation, and followed Logan out of the room.

“Yell if you need anything!” Remy shouted after them, before turning back to the five other girls.

Dee crossed her arms, staring back at her expectedly.

“So…” Remy awkwardly scratching her arm. “You girls wanna see the reward my family plans on giving to the chosen one after the Queen dies? I stole it from them to show you guys as extra motivation.”

Regina’s eyes lit up. “Ooh… what is it?” Rena and Patricia looked almost equally excited.

Virge and Dee watched warily as Remy took her jacket back from Regina, reaching into the secret pocket sewn into the inside, and pulling out a golden chain necklace with a large black crystal at the front.

“This gem was formed from the blood of the Queen over a century ago. It was the last time she was seen by humans, and the only time anyone was ever able to injure her. My family was the one to do that, of course. We’re cool.”

“It’s so pretty…” Rena stared wide-eyed, more entranced at the monster blood aspect than anything else.  

“Yeah,” Regina agreed.

Virge rolled her eyes as Dee and Pat also looked it over appreciatively. The purple-haired girl’s loyalty was not so easily bought.

“Can I touch it?” Rena asked, and Remy shrugged, tossing it to her.

“Sure, I’ll need it back at some point, though, or I’ll be in deep shit with my parents.”

Rena clutched it tightly, looking it over. “It would look amazing with my outfit. The black’s totally my aesthetic. Can you make gems with human blood? That’d suit you better, Regina.”

Regina blew a raspberry, reaching over and snatching the necklace from her sister. “Uh, no, the gold would totally suit me better. Besides, I’m totally gonna be the chosen one. You guys know that, right?”

Virge and Dee sighed in unison as Patricia tried in vain to stop the twins from arguing. Remy just watched in amusement.  

They started pulling the necklace to-and-fro, arguing about who it’d suit best. Pat tried to argue that they were identical twins, equally beautiful, but that didn’t stop them. She would have attempted consulting Virge and Dee, but Virge was too neutral to care, and Dee was too biased towards Rena to make a positive impact.

“Give it back!” Regina exclaimed. “It’ll suit me more!”

“You know what really would suit you more?” Rena hissed. “A slit throat.”

Regina gasped loudly, releasing the necklace in shock – though she really shouldn’t have been surprised – and causing it to fling too quickly for Rena to keep a hold of, slipping through the broken window, out of sight.

There was silence for a few seconds, before Rena and Regina turned guiltily to Remy, who burst out laughing.

“You girls are a riot.” She sauntered over to the broken window, leaning through and looking down.

The five teenagers followed, peering around and over her shoulders, their noses wrinkling when they spotted what was right below the window sill – a large open dumpster bin. They couldn’t even see the necklace; it was so full of multi-coloured garbage.

Then, Logan and Thomas walked in, pausing and raising their eyebrows when they spotted everyone crowded around the window.

“My mom confirmed their story, apparently my other mother knows about it, too, and they’ve spoken to your mother about her own possession multiple times in the past, Dee. She says we can trust them.” Logan confirmed, and Thomas nodded. “What are you all doing crowded around the window? Have you figured out what to tell the school faculty about that? I suggest claiming it was a break in, possibly vandalism.”

“No, uh…” Remy glanced at the other girls, who all shrugged, before turning back to give Thomas a sheepish look. “I may have borrowed my family’s chosen one necklace, and we may have accidentally dropped it out of the window… into a dumpster.”

Thomas blinked a few times in surprise, before sighing, massaging the bridge of his nose.

“Well, I guess we’re going dumpster diving, then.”

***

A few minutes later, the eight of them had left the building, and were now below the window they’d previously peered out of, staring at the large reeking dumpster in front of them. Most of them didn’t look too happy to be there.

Logan stared up the wall, brow creased. “How did you even climb up there, Remy? There aren’t any ladders.”

Remy smirked, stuffing her hands in her jacket pockets. “I’m just that awesome.”

They turned back to the dumpster.

“So, uh…” Thomas glanced around. “Who volunteers to climb inside?”

“Ooh, ooh! Pick me!” Rena exclaimed, jumping up and down in the spot, her hand in the air like she was still in class. “I’ve wanted to do this my whole life, please let me climb inside!”

Everyone stared at her, but only the two adults looked surprised.

“Uh, knock yourself out, kid.” Remy stepped out of the way, and Rena grinned, moving closer to the dumpster and looking it over.  

She glanced back at her sister. “Little help, Regina?”

Regina wrinkled her nose in disgust, moving even further back. “I refuse to touch that thing, and you are absolutely taking a shower as soon as you get home. You are not entering our bedroom reeking of expired cafeteria meat.”

“But that’s my favourite kind!” Rena exclaimed, and no one could tell whether or not she was joking.

Dee stepped forward. “I’ll help you up.” She volunteered, blushing lightly when Rena beamed gratefully at her.

“Excellent.” Rena rolled up the sleeves of her denim jacket, and Dee helped her climb inside of the dumpster.

Everyone but Rena gagged at the squelching sound her boots made when she landed inside, and she knelt down to search properly.

“Woah, there’s tons of stuff in here!” She grinned. “You could definitely hide a body in here, or, like, three bodies worth of organs, at least, and no one would even notice. It reeks so bad it’d hide even the stench of death!” Rena said that last part like it was a good thing, bending further down, out of sight, to properly search the dumpster.

Remy leant closer to Pat, whispering loud enough that everyone could hear her. “Is she always like this?”

“Oh, uh, yep!” Patricia said cheerfully, though she didn’t really seem too thrilled. “She’s actually pretty tame, right now.”

Virge snorted, her hands in her hoodie pockets. “You can say that again. One time, last year, she ate a ton of rotting food, straight from the trash, just because someone dared her too. She got super sick, and I’m pretty sure her dad almost sued the school. She’s calmed down a little since then, behaviour-wise.”

Remy whistled, almost impressed. “Damn, that’s actually almost impressive, but I think I would’ve puked if I’d seen it.”

“Oh, people did.” Logan confirmed, adjusting her glasses. “It happened in the middle of the cafeteria and seven-point-five people threw up.”

“Seven-point-five?”

“It’s complicated.”

Thomas furrowed his brow in concern, glancing at Regina. “She’s gonna make herself sick, what do your parents think about all of this?”

Rena’s head popped up again. “I’ve built up an immunity to this kinda stuff. Besides, it’s fun to freak people out.” She lifted up an old shoe. “Does anyone dare me to take a bite out of this?”

“Please, don’t.”

Rena pouted, tossing the shoe back over her shoulder.  

“It’s strange that you haven’t found the necklace yet.” Logan pointed out. “Surely it would have been at the top.”

“Oh, it was.” Rena pulled out the necklace. “I saw it before I’d even climbed in, but I was having so much fun.”

She then straightened up and hopped out of the dumpster, grinning widely, as everyone moved out of the way. Dee stepped forward, wrinkling her nose as she flicked a banana peel off of Rena’s shoulder.

Remy took the necklace back from Rena, looking it over quickly, before stuffing it back into her jacket pocket. “Thank god, there’s not a scratch on it. My parents would kill me if it was broken.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have stolen it from them in the first place.” Thomas said, and Remy gave him a pointed look.  

“If you tell them, I’ll never forgive you.”

“When would I get the chance to tell them?”

Remy raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you coming to dinner tonight? It’s Thursday, right?”

Thomas’s eyes widened. “Wait, shoot, it’s already Thursday? I thought it was Tuesday!” He looked around at the girls for confirmation.

“Mr Sanders, you literally wrote the date on the board at the start of the lesson.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was planning on spending the night marking homework, it needs to be handed back tomorrow. Guess I’m not sleeping at all tonight.”

***

A few hours had passed, and the six girls had returned back to their respective homes. Regina had finally forced her sister to take a shower – though the main reason Rena had protested so much was because it got on Regina’s nerves. Their dad would be getting home from work at the local theatre soon, and they were trying to figure out how best to tell him about the situation.

“Do you think he’ll believe us if we just straight-up tell him?” Regina asked, glancing back at her sister, before turning around quickly upon realising that Rena still hadn’t gotten dressed. “Please, put some clothes on, it’s been half an hour.”

“But they’re so restrictive!” Rena said, but she gave in and pulled on her pyjamas – an old neon green t-shirt and bright red shorts.

Regina looked her over again. “You look like Christmas threw up on you.”

“Thanks, that was the intention.” Rena flopped down on her sister’s bed – their room was split on two, a desk and a bed on either side; Rena’s half was the one by the door. “But do you really think dad’s gonna believe us? I mean, it’s not like we’ve got any proof. Do we really need to tell him?”

“Hmm,” Regina hummed in thought. “I guess not.” She turned and grinned at her sister. “So, which of us do you think’s gonna be the chosen one? I bet it’s me.”

Rena scoffed. “Nah, I bet it’s gonna be Pat or Virge, it’s always the one you least expect.”

“Psh…” Regina dismissed the thought. “Don’t get me wrong, I love those guys, but they don’t have it in them.” She lay dramatically across her sister’s lap, grinning up at her. “I’m gonna be the chosen one, kill the Queen of monsters and get the girl.”

“And I’m gonna be the zany side character slash main character’s best friend who also gets the girl in the end!”

“Absolutely, my dear sidekick.”  

[marbarwantsbacon]

Was watching Wolf Children again, and then an AU idea came up ;w;

Wolf Snake Children AU! ft. Deceit x Remus

Keep reading for more info because this is hella long ;w; (Also kind of spoiler for those who haven’t watched Wolf Children yet. So yeahh be warned for spoilers) 

If I have to be honest, I might get bored of this idea after I upload this (Just like my other AUs huhuhu) So Imma just explain it all now than ever lmao (Waring: This is so long lmao Im so sorry)

------------------------- 

Summary of the entire AU:

Remus is a singer that is new to the business industry. He meets this charming man who goes by, “Deceit” and offers to be his manager. Entranced by his intelligence, wit, good looks, and has a clear evidence of experience, Remus hired him. Deceit true intentions with Remus at first is to make him big, make him as famous and rich as he can get, and nothing more than to be his trusty manager. But as months pass, they fell in love. 

Started to be more comfortable with each other, and shared personal infos. Like how Remus ran away from his strict parents to pursue his dreams of becoming a big time celebrity, or how he was named Remus because he was over-shadowed by his more favored twin brother, etc. And then, one night Deceit asked Remus to have a small breeze-walk date with him in the forest, at night time. Confused, but intrigued because he likes nature, and the thought of a possible bear attack or a psychopath trying to murder at night excites him, he agreed to the idea. 

When they were already there, the more matured of the two asked for his employer to close his eyes for a surprise. The curious one that Remus is, he didn’t follow suit and simply peak for a little. What he didn’t expect though, to see his boyfriend to grow scales on his face, his entire eyelid to turn yellow, and his pupils to a black sharp shape. 

Nobody:

Nobody at all:

Remus: “Does this makes me a furry now?”

“Jfc Rem-”

So basically, Deceit is what they call, a “Reptile”. For years, people theorize the existence of shape-shifting Reptiles. Deceit basically confirms this as true, but it has to remain a secret for obvious reasons. Apparently, there are indeed more Reptiles that exists, but not as many as Deceit is one of the few snakes who survived up to this day. 

After that, Dee and Remus got married privately and basically do all the cute things couples do. But one day, in a seemingly rainy day, Deceit came back with two reptilian babies crying.

“Their mother left them in the side of the rode, you know what would happen to them if they...”

Remus, not ready to be a mom just yet, but seeing Deceit really wanting to be a parent and protect these kids, he reluctantly agrees. And so, more cute moments of the bois taking care of the two kids. Like how Remus cooks for them, and Deceit teaching them how to shape-shift. All the fluffy things.

Until one day... Deceit hasn’t came back for dinner, which got Remus worried. He went outside to find him with the two babies, while it’s also raining really hard. He searched everywhere, and then he stopped by a river to see a couple of garbage men carrying a dead creature. That’s where he realized,

It was Deceit.

He’s in his snake form, eyes wide open and covered in blood. Looking at the scene before him, it’s likely that Deceit, in his snake instincts died while hunting food for the children. As evident by the dead bird near him, and the snake bite mark at it’s wings. 

Remus was devastated. 

He begged for the men to give him the snake corpse, but simply ignore him for being crazy and said that “They’ll take care of it.” As they throw the dead reptile at the back of the garbage truck like it was nothing. He sobbed in the rain as he watches the truck drove off. People watched him confused as to why he was crying about a dead snake, while he also get his two kids be wet in the rain. 

His sobs continue until he gets home.

He’s all alone. Left with two children that he doesn’t even know how to take care of. How is he going to raise them all on his own? How is he supposed to keep them a secret for long as his career of being a famous singer might get them into trouble?

Despite all that, he stood and looked at his husband’s picture and swore, for his family and his husband, to protect and raise their children, even if it means sacrificing his success, fame, and riches and live somewhere far away to keep everyone from finding out that his children are reptiles. 

----------------------

Now, it’s up to you guys to decide who the children will be. It can be OCs, or my version where the children are Remy and Critic Sanders (Since Thomas himself confirmed that they are siblings) So basically after that, the plotline will still be similar to the actual Wolf Children movie. Remus will be living a life of farming in the countryside, and one of the children will go live normally as a human, while the other decides to become a full time snake. But all the details are all up to you guys oWo 

The reason why I made this is because I really love ship AUs where OTP become parents and so I made my own X3 Another reason is because I really need more sympathetic Remus since I love it where the characters that you wouldn’t expected to be the caring type actually have children and basically become a total mom XD So anyway, if you read up to here already, then take you so much for reading, hope you like it! uwu

[asterythm]

A is for Amour || Prince of Your Dreams (7)

Pairings: Slow burn Logicality, eventual Prinxiety Word Count: 3.9k Chapter Summary: "Once upon a time in a far-off kingdom, there lay a small village at the edge of the woods..." So the story begins, as Roman’s heard repeated hundreds of times before. But every fairy tale must have its villain -- now, who could that possibly be? Chapter Warnings: emotionally abusive/manipulative character originally inspired by Deceit, gaslighting, food mention

<< First Chapter || < Previous Chapter || Read this chapter on AO3

***

Auburn.

That was the colour of Roman Foley’s hair, a lovely kind of cross between red and brown and gold and all the other warm and fiery tones in between. It was already quite a handsome colour during the daytime, but right now it looked positively gorgeous (a fact that certainly hadn’t escaped Roman’s notice). The warm light cascading downwards from the street lamp above Roman’s head gave the impression that there was a fiery halo of sorts framing his face, illuminating his features with an almost otherworldly glow. 

But of course, he wasn’t just standing around for the sake of looking good; he’d just wanted to be able to see his friends’ faces as he talked to them. Though it was biting cold out and Roman knew that he had a limited amount of time before he had to head to rehearsals, it was only a couple of minutes extra that Roman wanted to spend chatting — surely that would be okay. 

Besides, Roman’s best friend Kai Brenton was in the middle of the funniest story, and Roman didn’t want to leave without finding out how it ended.

“…so then I told her, that’s not a weasel, that’s my sister!” finished Kai, a wide grin on his face. Roman laughed again, loudly. 

Not all of them found the punchline quite so amusing, though. On the other side of Roman, another of his friends spoke up between sips of green tea. “Uh, pause, pause, pause — you have a sister? How come you never told us about her?” Remy Somnus asked.

“What? What made you think I had a sister?”

“That was the whole point of the joke, Rem,” said Elliot, elbowing his fraternal twin in the ribs. “Come on, were you even listening at all?”

Remy scoffed as he drained the last dregs of tea from his plastic Starbucks cup. “Okay, whatever, my bad. You know I love you, Brenton babe, but I had more important things on my mind.” He took careful aim before throwing the cup in a graceful arc through the air. It landed in the snow next to the trash can he’d been shooting for. “Dang.”

“Yeah, it’s chill. You know I don’t really care.” Kai gave his sassy friend first a shrug, then a punch on the shoulder.

“Ow! Hey, you just said you don’t care!” protested Remy. Rubbing at his sore shoulder, he looked between Elliot and Kai. “What’s with all the violence today?”

“I meant that I don’t care about you not listening; littering is a whole ‘nother story. Pick up your trash, moron. Mother Nature works hard to protect us. You’d probably have better aim if you weren’t wearing those sunglasses all the time, by the way.”

Remy did as he was told, jogging over to grab the cup… but not without protest. “Okay, seriously? Is no one gonna, like, ask me about what I was talking about just now?” Roman’s ever-sassy friend loudly complained over his shoulder in a mock-annoyed tone of voice. “Like, with the whole more important things on my mind thing? I’m gonna be honest, I’m feeling a little unappreciated here.” Remy bent down to pick up the plastic cup, tossed it into the bin, and made his way back to the group. “But, you know, any of you could speak up right now. And make me feel not unappreciated. It would be, like super easy to satisfy the curiosity that’s probably… burning inside of you right now. You just have to ask.” 

A pause. 

“Oh my gosh, do I have to spell it out for you guys? Why do I even try? I don’t even know why I try. Seriously, all you’ve gotta do is say —” 

Fondly grinning, Roman interrupted his friend. “Hey, Remy, what were you talking about just now with the whole more important things on your mind thing?”

“Aha — there we go, thank you!” Remy glared at Elliot and Kai. “See, guys, this is why Roman is, like, a hundred times better than all of you combined.”

Out of the corner of his mouth, Roman mumbled, “Sometimes I feel like you’re even more dramatic than I am, Remy.”

“No way anyone could ever be more dramatic than you, hun,” quietly shot back Remy before he cleared his throat to address all three of them. “I’m so glad you asked. See, the thing is, you ladies have all been acting real stressed out lately, about school or work or home stuff or whatever, and TBH it’s really stressing me out too. You know we can’t have that. Stress makes you wrinkle up. So I took it upon myself to head down to my favourite club, the good ol’ Lemon Lime Loophole, and I rented out a private karaoke room for us four.“ As Remy spoke, Roman watched both Kai and Elliot perk up with delight. Remy continued, “Just a fun night out to relax and unwind. Dear Britney Spears knows it’s been too long since our last karaoke night, and you all obviously really need it.”

“Hang on, did you actually?” exclaimed Elliot, eyes gleaming. 

“Remy, that’s perfect!” Next to him, Kai bounced gleefully up and down. “Aah, this is gonna be so much fun!”

“I know, I know, I’m the best. Say thank you, Remy…”

“Thank you, Remy!” Kai and Elliot chorused like little children, almost in perfect unison with each other, before returning to their enthusiastic babbling, faster and louder until they were almost tripping over every word before flying to the next. 

Roman, in the meantime, said nothing at all.

But none of his friends noticed Roman’s uncharacteristic silence: Kai and Elliot were already enthusiastically working out a list of songs they wanted to get through before the end of the evening, and Remy was busy soaking in the praise, obviously pleased with himself and the positive response to his brilliant idea.

After preening for another moment or two, Remy said, “Come on, let’s hurry. We’ve got twenty minutes to get there or they’ll give away our reservation to someone else. I’ll drive, cool?” 

That was when Roman finally spoke up. “Guys…” he began. “I’d love to come along — really, I would. But I have a rehearsal today, remember? For Into the Woods . You didn’t forget, did you?” He was dismayed to see the joy in his three friends’ faces immediately fizzle out.

“…Well, damn,” mumbled an uncharacteristically spiritless Remy at last. “I did forget. Sorry, Roman.”

(Yeah, thought Roman — though of course he didn’t say anything out loud — I kind of figured as much.)

“Maybe — maybe we can reschedule!” It was Kai this time, trying (and failing) to hide his disappointment. “We’ll find another time when we can all go together.”

“Wait, what? No! No, that’s not what I’m saying at all!” Roman spluttered in surprise. “No, you guys can totally go ahead. Don’t let me stop you! I mean, yes, I wish I could be there with you, but just because I’m not coming doesn’t mean you have to give up on this, too.”

“But… I don’t want you to feel bad about missing out.”

“Honestly, it would just make me feel way worse if I knew that you skipped out on your karaoke night just to make me feel better.”

Elliot hesitated. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, positive!” Roman said, much more confidently than he felt. He forced a smile. Showing any kind of weakness or doubt was out of the question; he had to convince Remy, Elliot and Kai that it really was okay for them to go ahead without him, and the only way he was sure he could convince them was by convincing himself of the same thing. It was undeniably easy to tell how much his friends wanted to do this. Roman was determined not to let his own scheduling conflict stop them. “Go on, go have fun. Just promise me you’ll do something from Hamilton for me, okay?”

“...Okay,” Kai finally agreed after a long pause. “Thanks, Roman.”

“And Remy has to be Peggy.”

“Hey — what? Hell no!” 

“Relax, Rem, I was kidding! Agh! Don’t hurt me!”

***

“I must have her —”

Prince Charming paused dramatically, taking a deep breath before raising his chin and hardening his features into a resolute mask —

“— to wife…“

Holding the ending note (a high one, for sure, but nothing that he couldn’t handle), Prince Charming stood from the painted drama box he’d been sitting on and crossed the stage to meet up with the Other Prince. One strong and rich, the other clear and sweet, their voices together formed a beautiful blend to fill every square inch of previously empty space in the rehearsal room.

Prince Charming made eye contact with his scene partner a beat before the music cut off. He grinned. The Other Prince grinned back.

A second of silence.

And then the scene was over, and Prince Charming was Roman and the Other Prince was Kyle again, and the silence was broken by the sound of sparse applause from a handful of the other cast members who had been watching the duet play out. It wasn’t the first time that they had gone through the song without any mistakes or silly little slip-ups, but it was the first time that the entire scene had gone off without a hitch. Both Princes had followed their blocking to a T and not once had either of them needed to call for line. The scene had come together perfectly, and both of them knew it.

So, apparently, did his director, Adri. Satisfaction was clear to be seen on her glowing face as she joined in on the scattered applause. “Excellent work, Roman, Kyle! You’ve still got to pay attention to your volume and make sure you’re not pushing the tempo of the song too much, but otherwise, that was flawless. Keep up the good work.” She turned to address the rest of the room. “Alright, folks, that’s the last of our scene-by-scene work for the day. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water. We’ll take five and then run the show from the top, so you’re all going to want to be well-hydrated.” 

The room leapt to life the second she finished speaking. Roman and Kyle shared a quick high-five before making their way offstage, chatting all the way.

“Awesome job, Roman!” said Kyle encouragingly.

“Oh, thank you so much! Right back at you, of course. This scene is going to turn out marvellously, I can just feel it.”

Kyle nodded, cheerful. “Well, I could go for a cup of coffee. Want anything?”

“Coffee?” Roman raised his eyebrows. "At half past nine? Kyle, it’s been dark out for at least two hours already. How do you expect to get any sleep tonight if you drink coffee now?”

“Ehh… I guess you’re right. Maybe I’ll just get bubble tea or something instead.”

“Boba’s good.” Roman said with a nod. “Just make sure you’re back before break’s over or Adri might bite your head off.”

“Heh, yeah — wait, you’re not coming with?”

“No, I think I’ll hang back. Go over the script a few more times before we start, you know? And maybe get some notes from Adri while I’m at it.”

“Gotcha. No worries. See you soon, man.” Kyle grabbed his coat and stepped out with a wave goodbye. Roman wandered over to his backpack to grab a drink of water. Then, he pulled out a granola bar and, munching on the healthy snack, he began flipping through the pages of his script. He was checking for any issues, anything that might get in the way of a flawless performance (he would settle for nothing less), making sure he hadn’t forgotten any of the blocking or any lines since the last time they’d run the show all the way. As expected, though, Roman’s careful search turned out to be unnecessary. 

Which was great, except now he had nothing to do; he’d realized only after getting to rehearsal that he’d left his laptop at home by accident, meaning he couldn’t spend his break finishing up any schoolwork like he would typically do. Roman reached for his bag, put away his script. Without anything to keep him busy, it wasn’t long before his mind began freely wandering. His imagination took him anywhere and everywhere and nowhere in particular all at once — then suddenly made a crash landing somewhere familiar: a private karaoke room within the walls of the Lemon Lime Loophole night club. 

Roman still couldn’t help but feel guilty for turning down Remy’s kind offer. His three friends had seemed so disappointed when he’d said that he couldn’t go with them, but it couldn’t be helped; he’d made the commitment to attend rehearsals and he had to see it through.

But, well… to be completely honest, Roman may not have agreed to go with the three of them even if he hadn’t had rehearsal that day. Not because he didn’t want to, or because he didn’t think that karaoke with his friends would be a fun time — Roman was sure that if he had gone with his friends to the Lemon Lime tonight, he would have ended up having the time of his life singing crazy show tunes or Disney songs with them.  

There was just one problem: what would Monet think? If the simple act of convincing his boyfriend to let him visit home every other weekend made Roman feel like he was walking on fragile eggshells, then trying to schedule a time and place to hang out with his friends was like — like strapping on ice skates with working chainsaws in place of blades and dancing a complex, fast-paced jig on top of those same eggshells. 

It would often end up taking days or sometimes even weeks of careful negotiations before Monet was willing to let Roman go anywhere without being by his side at all times. And even then, there were still rules that Roman had to follow: no flirting, be home by x o’clock, no more than four drinks, if anyone tries to hit on you then leave immediately, don’t show too much skin when you go out, send me a text and a photo every hour… All reasonable requests, and Roman could certainly understand where his boyfriend was coming from, but the fact remained that they were rules nonetheless. Sometimes it felt like the list never stopped growing.

It didn’t help that the three people who made up Roman’s closest circle of friends were all attractive young men the same age as Roman, either. Though Roman was being completely honest when he told Monet that all of them were only friends, Kai, Elliot, and Remy were undeniably handsome and there was, of course, never a dull moment with them around. 

It was easy to see why Monet, committed as he was to their relationship, might get a little bit distressed over how often Roman was hanging around the three of them. In fact, when Roman looked at the situation from his boyfriend’s point of view, he realized that Monet was already being generous enough, letting Roman spend as much time as he did with his group of friends. It wasn’t fair of Roman to ask for even more. And yet Monet was still willing to give it to him, under the right circumstances. 

Roman sighed. That boy really is incredible.

So though a night of karaoke with his friends was a pleasant thought in theory, Roman had known the second Remy extended the invitation that there was no way he’d be able to go. Really, he was grateful for the schedule conflict between Remy’s reservation and his rehearsal. Explaining that he couldn’t go because of a prior commitment was so much easier than explaining that he couldn’t go because his boyfriend wouldn’t like it; that latter option made Monet sound like a cruelly controlling criminal, which he wasn’t — but though Roman understood Monet’s motives perfectly well on his own, he had found that he always ran into difficulty when he tried to explain them to other people…

Two sharp claps interrupted Roman’s train of thought. A quick glance at the clock on the wall revealed that his break was over. Just as well; Roman’s spirits were starting to sag a little, thinking about the karaoke he was missing out on. But there was plenty of singing to do here at rehearsal, wasn’t there?

Roman rose to his feet, tossed the granola bar wrapper into the trash, and did some quick warm-ups to ensure he was fully prepared; a few brief stretches, a vocal sigh, one or two quiet tongue twisters. He finished up and turned just in time to greet Kyle, who was rushing in with a half-finished plastic cup of bubble tea in his hands. The sight immediately reminded Roman of Remy’s antics with a similar plastic cup earlier that day, but he quickly pushed the thought aside. Stop thinking about them, he ordered himself. It’s rehearsal time. Focus!

“Kyle, just in time,” Roman greeted with a smile.

Kyle put his drink in a safe place where it wouldn’t spill over and made eye contact with Roman. He didn’t smile back this time. “Who’s Kyle?”  

“Oh. Right, my bad.”

Kyle — pardon, the Other Prince — was apparently in character already. Perhaps Roman ought to be doing the same.

Roman breathed in, deeply, drawing as much oxygen into his diaphragm as he could, and let his eyelids flutter gently shut. Then, he slowly released the air from his lungs, and released all the bits and pieces of “Roman” with it.

While the young man melted away, the music began. Light, crystalline, clear, bouncing. Then, gently, came the singing: 

“I wish —”

“More than anything —”

By the time the young man opened his eyes again, Roman had dissolved into the background, no more than a ghost fluttering between steady, rhythmic pulses. 

“More than life —”

“More than jewels —”

And in his place, standing where Roman had once stood: a perfect Prince Charming.

“I wish…”

***

Roman was so tired by the time he got back to his and Monet’s house that evening, he ended up collapsing on the couch only seconds after he’d finished hanging up his thick winter coat. Stretching, Roman let out a huge yawn. The rest of his rehearsal had gone just fine, but the single granola bar he had packed for himself hadn’t been completely sufficient to keep his energy levels up. After all of the jumping around and running back and forth and vocal work, the drive home that day had been a long one.

Hearing Monet shuffling up behind him, Roman turned around. He watched Monet take in Roman’s state of being for a brief handful of seconds, then Roman’s boyfriend gave Roman a small smile and sat down next to him on the couch.

“Hey there, Prince Charming. Long day, huh?” 

Roman let another yawn, somehow even bigger than the last, escape. That was answer enough.

“Oh, you poor thing, you must be completely worn out.” Monet shook his head as he wrapped a protective arm around Roman, pulling him close. “I’m so proud of you, Princey. You’ve been working so hard on this show of yours! I’d bet you anything that when show week begins, you’re going to be the best actor on the stage.” 

Roman snuggled up against his boyfriend’s shoulder, breathing in his familiar scent. Hot chocolate on a cold winter day. "Heh. You’re just saying that.”

“No, I mean it. You’re crazy good, Ro,” Monet insisted. “You’re definitely going to become a world-famous actor some day, I’m sure of it. And then every time I see that cute face of yours plastered on a billboard or magazine cover or something, I can point and say, ‘You see that guy? Roman Foley, the bright shining superstar? He’s my boyfriend, you know.’ Everyone’s going to be so jealous of me.”

“I, uh…” 

For some reason, Monet’s usually welcome compliments left Roman feeling a little hollow inside today. But I suppose it’s the thought that counts. 

Luckily, though Roman was tired, he wasn’t so out of power that he couldn’t even act out some enthusiasm for Monet’s sake.

“...appreciate that,” he eventually settled for, giving Monet a quick peck on the cheek before returning his head to its resting position. “You’re always too good to me, you know.”

Roman felt his boyfriend’s shoulder shake a little bit as Monet chuckled. “Oh, trust me — I know.”

With that, the two of them were back to cuddling. It was nice, but Roman couldn’t help but feel like he should be saying something.

“You are coming to watch the performance, right?” he eventually settled on.

Roman couldn’t see his face, but he could tell from his tone of voice that Monet was smiling. “Of course I’m coming to watch the performance. I promised I would, didn’t I? Trust me, Ro, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Then, all of a sudden, Roman’s head hit the couch cushions. Monet had stood up without warning and was now watching Roman expectantly. 

With a considerable amount of effort, Roman pushed himself back up to a sitting position, grumbling. “Come baaaack... I was comfortable!” he whined. “Don’t just abandon me here, Monet.”

“It’s getting late, and you’re tired. I wasn’t about to let you fall asleep on top of me. You’d have woken up cramped and sore all over.” Monet reached out and grabbed Roman’s hand. “Come on, sleepy head, let’s get you to up the stairs and into bed.” Ignoring Roman’s further protests, Monet pulled him to his feet. 

Roman swayed in place for a moment before heavily settling back down onto the couch. “Nuh-uh, not moving. Couch soft.”

“The bed’s softer, silly. I already said, you’ll be sore in the morning if you sleep down here. Let’s go.”

Hearing a note of impatience in his boyfriend’s tone, Roman gave a small groan, but got up just like Monet asked. He leaned on Monet all the way over to their staircase, at which point Monet remembered an unfinished assignment and left Roman to fend for himself. So Roman climbed up the stairs and got ready for bed on his own, all the while swearing he could hear scattered notes and lyrics from Into the Woods still bouncing sluggishly from ear to tired ear:

It takes two . I thought one was enough, it’s not true — it takes two of us .

Humming the song’s simple melody, Roman slid with a contented sigh under the soft gold and red covers of the double bed that he and Monet shared. 

(You came through — when the journey was rough, it took you — it took two of us.)

Monet had been totally right, just like he always was. The bed was way softer.

(It takes care — it takes patience and fear and despair — to change.)

But something was distinctly missing: the warmth of another person beside him. 

(Though you swear to change, who can tell if you do?)  

Tired though he was, Roman always felt so small when he lay all alone in their large bed. Even as he drifted off, he found himself wishing for someone to lie there next to him.

(It takes two.)

***

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[rosesisupposes]

36. "they're monsters" w brotherly prinxiety?? -blink

@blinksinbewilderment I got carried away

Monsters

pairings: brotherly prinxiety (V is 17, Ro is 16); brotherly losleep (Rem is 18, Lo 16); brotherly moceit (Dee is 19, Pat is 15); background remceit

warnings: mentions of child abuse; allusions to smut (none shown); sympathetic Deceit

word count: 2,285

They never would have all met if it hadn’t been for their parents all moving into the same little cul-de-sac. One quiet street, out of the way of the major roads. Two children per family. Three pairs of siblings who were dichotomous in almost every way.

The first were Remy and Logan. The elder shrugged off concerns like water - other people’s concerns, that is, not his own. He had very few of his own. He slept in late and stayed up later, but managed to scrape together enough money from odd jobs for a motorcycle that he maintained with pride. When their parents complained about the noise or the mess, he’d just give them a look over his glasses and say, “I’ll handle it.”

Logan, the younger of that family, was never going to be allowed to be similarly lax. Their parents never said the words, but the current was there, under every encouragement to focus on his classes and to “make something of yourself.” Unlike your brother. Logan had already been inclined towards regimentation, towards strict study schedules and perfectly-arranged binders. But even still, he loved his brother with as much intensity as he failed to understand him, and struggled for the words to tell Mum and Dad. Remy spent more and more hours out of the house, especially once he hit 18. Logan, only two years younger, was frequently assumed to be the elder as he held in his (to him) incomprehensible frustrations and wore ties as a high-schooler.

Remy found friends and kindred spirits in his neighbors. Dee, who refused to use either his full name or the dreaded “Junior.” Dee who was his own person, not just the copy of the father who’d left them. Dee, whose facial scars held a story locked behind a sneer and sarcasm. Only a year older than Rem and even more independent from his mom. Remy asked once why he hadn’t moved out yet. Dee went silent, and finally said a single word in reply: “Patty.”

Four years his junior, Patton also appeared to be an opposite of his brother. Where Dee had gone closed off and secretive, Patton was open and emotive. He scattered affection wherever he went, to almost everyone he met. To Dee’s smirk, Pat had a smile. A perpetual smile. An unflinching smile. Only 15 and trying to take care of everyone - his friends, his classmates, the stray cats he was allergic to, even his mother. Which is why Dee stayed, no matter what. No kid should have to take care of his parent, no sweet boy should have to swallow his own feelings to try to make his mom less volatile. So Dee worked as a bar back, as a waiter, as anything that would hire him as he saved and saved to get them both out.

Pat didn’t want to know, didn’t want to think about the implications of their family. So he didn’t know. He just knew his best friends, the boys who lived on either side of his house and who were only a year older. Lolo, who needed someone to make him laugh (even when he pretended not to). And Roro, who needed company.

Roman loved performing for his friends and the audience for the drama club. He was a great student when he could get himself to focus, but thrived on hands-on work and presentations, not long lectures or silent exams. His legs jiggled and bounced through classes as he tried to pay attention, all too frequently getting a talking-to from teachers who saw only that he sometimes succeeded, proof, of course, that his failure to do so consistently was just ‘laziness.’ But he took all too much after his parents, pure extroverts whose jobs brought them out of the house night after night. Leaving the house echoing and empty except for his older brother, Virgil.

Virgil was only a year older, but he might as well been from another planet. He was the lone introvert in the family, unable to mingle easily for hours as his family did. Unable to show affection in his preferred ways (a favorite snack, a small gift) and have his family understand it. And so he retreated more and more into himself, seeing himself as the odd one out, the one who didn’t belong. Not like Roman, their parents’ little prince.

Virgil had met the other older brothers on the cul-de-sac by chance as he’d stopped to admire Remy’s motorcycle. Remy, emerging from the garage, didn’t give him time to flee in shame before striking up a conversation and bragging about the repairs and enhancements he’d made. Dee had shown up the minute he was out of school, taken one look at Virgil’s dark clothes and messy eyeliner, and had immediately accepted the slightly-younger boy as part of the group.

The groups moved in parallel, never touching, just rotating from school to house, and the occasional jaunt to town if the licensed among them could be cajoled. Three older brothers and three younger looked across and saw an insurmountable gap. Three sets of siblings looked over and thought, “He’ll never understand me.”

It was a balance, of sorts. Until the scales shifted one day, as Virgil came home from school. He walked past Remy’s garage to see the bike outside, by itself, and the door mostly closed. He frowned, knowing how protective Rem was of his ‘baby.’ Pushing through the door, he immediately blanched and jumped back outside. Rem and Dee were inside, furiously making out against the garage wall.

“Oh fuck, was that Vee?” Rem’s voice asked

“Yeah, think so.”

“Sorry, Vee!”

“No you’re not,” Dee said, and Virgil could hear the smirk.

“No, I’m not,” Remy agreed.

“S’alright,” Virgil said through the door. “Not like this is a surprise.”

“…really?” Dee asked.

“I’m rolling my eyes at you,” Virgil told his friend, still not looking. “It’s been painfully obvious to everyone but you. Patton knew, and asked me about it, two months ago.”

“Oh,” Remy said softly. “I didn’t even know that long ago, not consciously at least.”

Virgil heard a muffled gasp that was definitely another kiss and straightened. “I’m gonna just go. You two have fun or whatever. Use protection.”

He trudged home, fighting the lump in his stomach. Of course he was happy for his two best friends. They deserved to be happy, and they’d been making googly eyes behind each other’s backs for months. He was happy they had each other, and knew they deserved privacy while it was so new. He’d be fine on his own. That’s what being an introvert meant, right?

Except that as he walked into his house, he realized the trio of younger brothers had picked this house as their hangout of choice today. Chatter echoed around the corner from the living room, punctuated with laughter. Virgil suddenly felt even more alone than he had walking over. He tried to make it to the stairs without being noticed, but apparently the snacks ran out at that very moment. Patton came around the corner, head turned as he grinned at his unseen friends around the corner. Turning, he suddenly caught sight of Virgil and stopped.

“Oh! I didn’t know you were home! Are we intruding?”

“Uh, nah, I just got here. ‘s fine, I’ll just be upstairs…”

“No, please, you should join us! I’m sure Ro and Lo won’t mind!” Patton said brightly.

“I don’t think…” Virgil started, but Patton had already grabbed his arm and started tugging him towards the living room.

“Look who I found!” he announced.

Logan was sitting sensibly on the couch, while Roman sprawled on the floor, surrounded by cardboard and fabric that was being coming into life as a posh umbrella, a prop for an upcoming play. Both young men looked up as Patton entered. Logan’s face was impassive, but Roman’s showed clear confusion.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, curious with an edge of defensiveness.

“Just home early,” Virgil said, not making eye contact. “I was just gonna go upstairs-”

“No, then you’d be alone! We can’t let that happen!” Patton insisted.

“Why not?” Roman and Virgil asked in unison. Virgil looked over to see his brother looking away from Patton’s frown, his chin raised in defiance.

“Patton, I appreciate it, but you don’t have to include me just because I’m friends with your brother. Y’all just hang out, I’ll leave you to it.”

Roman seemed ready to let him leave, but then sighed and deflated. “No, you should stay. We were just about to order pizza. Mom and Dad texted that it’s a silent auction night. There’s no other food.”

“I can order something on my own-” Virgil offered.

“It’s fine,” Roman said, cutting him off. “We can save the drivers a trip from town.”

“That’s very sensible,” Logan said with approval. “We’ll be sure to tip well, regardless.”

“Oh, good,” Virgil said, perching on the top of the couch. “They deserve it, living in the capitalist hellscape.”

Logan’s eyes alit. “I was just reading a comparison piece on tipping culture of the US versus other similar countries, it was fascinating…”

The two went off on matching rants, leaving Patton and Roman on the floor to continue assembling props. “Why didn’t you want him to stay?” Patton murmured quietly, when he was sure the other two wouldn’t hear.

“We don’t- we don’t do things together,” Roman said, tweaking a bit of lace back and forth until it was just so. “He hates the whole family, he avoids us constantly. If he wasn’t talking to our resident nerd, I’m sure he’d resent being dragged in.”

“But aren’t your parents gone, like, all the time?” Patton asked, arranging fabric around a parasol handle. He wasn’t quite as precise as Roman, but his eye for color was perfect.

“Yeah. Just shows that he’s avoiding me. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna move out the minute he turns 18.”

“I thought that about Dee, and he didn’t!” Patton pointed out with a bright smile.

“…wasn’t there a reason for that, Patty?” Roman said very quietly.

Patton’s smile wavered.  “I wonder why Virgil isn’t with him and Remy today,” he said instead of answering.

Virgil heard the last part of that sentence. “They’re uh. Busy today.”

“Busy?” Logan asked. To his surprise, Virgil’s dark cheeks turned the slightest bit pinker.

“Uh, yeah. They were… going to a thing together. 18 plus only.”

“That sounds fun,” Patton offered. “Too bad you couldn’t join them, Virge! Next year, maybe?”

“I hope not,” Virgil muttered under his breath. Speaking up, he asked, “Uh, were y’all gonna order pizza?”

“Yes indeed, thank you for the reminder,” Logan said, picking up his phone. “What do we want?”

“Not pineapple,” Virgil and Roman said at the same time. They briefly made eye contact, small smiles flashing across their faces for a moment.

“But I love pineapple pizza,” Patton said, pouting.

Roman immediately relented, unable to resist Patton’s puppy-dog eyes. “Half with and half without, then?”

“Sounds adequate,” Logan said with a small smirk. “I’m sure one of these days, you’ll even follow through on your dire threats against those of us with better taste, Roman.”

Roman turned to his friend and stuck out a tongue. “No one asked you, Tech-It Ralph!”

Virgil pulled out his phone, making it clear he could occupy himself. He was still an outsider here, when the three of them were so close. Brief conversations with Logan aside, he was still one of the older brothers, not part of the group. As Logan got drafted into helping with props, he was left alone on the couch. And that was fine, and to be expected. He was only still here because food hadn’t arrived yet.

When the doorbell finally rang, Logan, the only one able to calculate a tip in his head, answered the door cordially and accepted the delicious-smelling box. He set it down in the kitchen, fixing Roman with a look from a full room away that made Roman sheepishly leave his crafts in the living room. Virgil grabbed a plate, ready to take a piece and vanish upstairs. But Patton had other plans. He patted the seat next to him with a smile.

“Sit here, Virge! I’ve got Roman on my right, I can be in a brother sandwich!”

“I was just gonna-”

“No buts except for the one you put in this seat!” Patton said, smiling brightly.

“It’s best to admit defeat now,” Logan commented drily, sitting across from Patton on Roman’s right. “Once he’s picked you as a target for affection, there’s no escape.”

Virgil conceded and sat. He grabbed a slice of pineapple-free pizza and folded it over, biting from the side. He looked up to see Logan staring.

“What?”

“I… it runs in the family, apparently.”

“What does?”

“That odd way you eat your pizza.”

Virgil looked across the table to see Roman holding his slice identically, while both Patton and Logan held the crust.

Roman blinked, then spoke loftily. “That’s because Virgil and I were raised with class, and eat our pizza in the proper manner.”

“Sorry, kiddo, I think you’re the odd ones out here!” Patton said with a giggle. “Both our families eat pizza like this and like pineapple.”

“Can you believe this?” Roman squawked indignantly.

“They’re monsters,” Virgil said, shaking his head solemnly. He made eye contact with his younger brother, and tried out a small smile.

To his surprise and delight, Roman returned it. “They really are, brother mine.”

And, well. That wasn’t going to fix everything strained and tense in their family, wasn’t going to make them best of friends overnight.

But it was a start.

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[sanderssidesfanfiction]

We’ll Carry On - Chapter Eighteen

We’ll Carry On Tag

General Content Warnings: Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Substance Abuse, Abandonment, Minor Character Death, Transphobia, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Dissociation, Bullying, Homophobia

December 16th, 2000

“It’s official!” Remy exclaimed, walking up to Emile and hugging him. “I dropped out of college!”

Emile laughed and hugged Remy back. “Now that you’re not going to school, what will you be doing?” Emile asked.

“I’m working a second coffee shop now,” Remy explained, “It’s something I’m good at and if I’m good enough I could get promoted to manager.”

“That’s great, Rem,” Emile said. “I’m happy for you.”

“Yeah, I just feel...freer, you know? Like I could do anything! I knew all the stuff they were teaching me in business school, so maybe if I get good enough at making coffee I can start my own shop. That’d be cool, don’t you think?”

Emile smiled. “That sounds exactly up your alley,” he agreed.

March 11th, 2019

Emile was working his jaw with his head bowed and Remy put a steadying arm on his bicep. Hopefully Emile wouldn’t start shouting, but at this point Remy wasn’t sure what might happen. “Are you sure about this, Sarah?” Remy asked.

“As sure as I can be,” Sarah confirmed. “The fingerprints are obviously a little bigger than the ones they took at birth, but it’s undeniable. His name is Deagan Russell. His mom has been suspected of drug abuse and child neglect for years, but the police could never get anything to stick. Apparently, she would have Dee lie to anyone who came over after receiving a call. And you said she just dropped him off in the middle of the neighborhood?”

“The day we were moving,” Emile said darkly. “If she had waited one more day, we wouldn’t have found him.”

“Breathe, Emile,” Remy said. “I’m angry too, but going into a blind rage isn’t going to help anyone.”

Emile took a deep breath. “Every last kid. Every last kid I helped conceive went to a broken home in one way or another. I never should have donated my sperm.”

“You couldn’t have known,” Remy said. “Besides, isn’t it better that they’re yours? If they had been anyone else’s kids, who knows whether or not they’d be in a better home now?”

Emile bowed his head again and Sarah looked at the two of them sympathetically, before glancing behind her to a play area where Dee was preoccupied with a couple toy trucks. “Look. You can claim child negligence, and bring charges against her if you so choose, once you’ve adopted him. Provided, you know, that’s what you want to do.”

“What else can we do?” Emile asked. “We can’t just cart him away to some foster home and hope for the best! Roman had enough issues, and he claims he wasn’t there that long!”

Remy strengthened his grip on Emile’s bicep. “Honey, you have to breathe. I know this is hard.”

Emile glared at him. “It’s not you who helped bring this boy into a broken home.”

“No,” Remy agreed. “But he is a son to both of us. I’m just as angry, if not angrier, than you about this. But we’ll be no use to anyone if we walk into this mess angry.”

Emile took a breath, then another. “You’re right,” he sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Remy dismissed. “Worry more about what we’re going to do about Dee.”

Sarah sighed. “I’m going to need to talk to him, and we’re going to have to figure out if we’re going to charge his mother.”

“I’m definitely willing to press charges,” Emile said. “She doesn’t deserve to get away with this.”

Sarah nodded and turned toward the play area. “Deagan,” she called, voice soft.

Dee froze like a deer in headlights, before putting the trucks down and walking over. “Yeah?” he asked softly.

“What can you tell us about your mother?” Sarah asked.

“Mama was fine,” Dee said, his voice robotic and rehearsed, but Remy could see the fear in his eyes as he lied. “Why?”

“Dee, we know she would almost get in trouble a couple times when you were with her. We’re just worried about what might have happened to you,” Emile said.

“Mama was fine,” Dee insisted, eyes growing glassy. “She loved me and made sure I had food.”

Remy took a deep breath and looked down at Dee. “Dee, we don’t want to force you into this, but we have to talk about it.”

“Mama was fine,” he insisted again. “Fine, fine, fine! She was fine!”

Remy let Dee get frustrated and flap his arms and heave in deep breaths for a few moments before he gently asked, “Did she ever take pills she shouldn’t have?”

Dee looked up at Remy with so much hurt in his eyes that Remy almost wished he could take the question back. But he needed to know the answer. “Did she?” he pressed.

Eyes dropping to the ground, Dee mumbled, “Not at first. But Mama’s back got hurt at work and she had to go to the doctor at the hospital. They gave her some pills that helped her, but after a while she would just...stare at nothing after she took them. And...and if she took them she wouldn’t make me food or help me get anything to drink. The only thing she really remembered most of the time was...was my eczema cream.”

Emile’s nostrils flared and Remy turned to him. “Emile, why don’t you take a walk for a minute, okay? Sarah and I can do the rest with Dee.”

Remy stared down Emile’s mutinous glare. Eventually, Emile huffed and stood, walking away. Dee looked after him, confused. Remy said, “Emile is going to take a little walk for a bit, Dee. He’s angry and needs to cool off before talking with us again.”

“Why?” Dee asked.

Remy braced himself for impact as he said, “He doesn’t like that your mom took pills instead of helping you.”

Dee made a soft “oh” sound and climbed into the chair that Emile had vacated. “How much trouble is she in?”

“A lot,” Remy said. “She neglected you, Dee, that can’t go unpunished.”

Dee took a breath and nodded, promptly shutting up.

Remy sighed. He didn’t want to alienate Dee, but he didn’t want to lie either. Parenting was a lot harder than it looked at first glance, and it already looked difficult. “Your mom wasn’t a good person, Dee. I’m sorry, but she just wasn’t. That doesn’t mean she didn’t have her good days, but when it comes down to it she didn’t help you as much as she should have. And that means she’s in trouble. We’re not going to love you any less, and if you still want to live with us, you can, but you can’t go back to your mom’s. No matter if you stay with us or anyone else. It just can’t be her.”

Dee looked at the floor, nodding. His eyes were glassy. “I...I love her...but...but I kinda...feel...relieved...?”

Remy put a hand on Dee’s shoulder. “You’ll be with someone who takes care of you from now on, Dee, that’s a good thing. Of course you can miss your mother, and love her, but it’s safer if you’re not with her.”

Dee nodded, a few tears falling. Remy’s heart was breaking, and he murmured, “It’s okay to ask for a hug if you need one.”

No sooner did he say that than Dee flung himself into Remy’s chest, quietly sobbing. Remy rubbed his back in small circles, looking frantically at Sarah to know if he was doing this right. She gave him an amused smile and a thumbs-up.

Emile walked back in and sat down, giving Remy a questioning look. “We were just explaining to Dee what’s going to happen now that we know who his mom is.”

“Ah.” A beat of silence. “And I take it he’s a bit upset?”

“He feels more relieved, and guilty about that, actually,” Remy said as if he were talking about the weather, trying not to make a big deal out of this. “But we’re pretty much set for adopting him, provided that’s what he wants.”

Emile nodded. “I take it you’re waiting out the crying to ask that,” he said.

Remy shrugged. “Yeah. The kid’s been through a lot, he deserves a good cry.”

“Oh, one other thing,” Sarah said. “His birthday was the second. He’s officially six years old.”

“You should have told us, Dee,” Emile spoke softly. “We could have celebrated.”

Dee’s crying tapered off somewhat and he turned to look at Emile. His hands were shaking as he signed something Remy didn’t recognize.

“You wouldn’t have bothered us,” Emile said, forehead creasing into his frown. “If you want to be a part of this family, you’ll never be a bother to us. Ever.”

Dee looked confused beyond belief at that sentiment, and Remy rubbed Dee’s back a little more, providing comfort the only way he really knew Dee liked at the moment. “Why?” Dee signed.

“Because you’re important, Dee. You have to understand that everyone is important, including you. And you can’t bother people who want you around. We definitely want you around, and we know you’re important, and if you like, you can stay with us.”

Dee looked at Emile in somewhat of a shock. Then he turned to Remy. Remy smiled at him and said, “Yeah, I agree with your dad here. We’d love to have you, if you want that.”

There was a beat of silence where no one did anything. Then, Dee’s face crumpled a little and he nodded. “Yes, please,” he signed. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

“All right, then. Consider yourself a part of our family, Dee,” Remy said.

Sarah smiled. “I’ll get the adoption papers started. Hopefully this is the last time, right?”

“If it is it is, if it isn’t it isn’t. We’ll take in whoever needs help that we can accomodate,” Emile said.

Sarah gave a little laugh. “Spoken like a true parent,” she said, standing up and moving further into the office.

Dee was crying a little bit still and Remy lightly hugged him. “It’ll be okay, Dee,” he promised. “I know you miss your mom, but we’ll take care of you.”

Emile sat next to them, and Remy could tell he was still a little agitated by the news of Dee’s mother. But right now, Remy didn’t want to poke that bear. Later that night, he’d let Emile rant all he wanted. Right now, though, Dee had to be their first priority. “Hey, Dee,” Remy said softly.

Dee looked up at him and signed, “What?”

“In honor of your birthday, what do you say to visiting a toy shop on the way home? Just to get you a little something special,” Remy said. “As a belated birthday present.”

Dee grinned through his tears and Remy fixed Dee’s hair as Sarah came back with the papers. “Get these back to the court within the next two weeks, you two know the drill by now,” she teased.

Emile took the papers and the three of them got to their feet. “Thanks, Sarah,” he said sincerely.

“Yeah, seriously, thank you,” Remy added.

Sarah waved them off. “Just be good dads, all right? If there aren’t any more issues with the adoption process hopefully I won’t be knocking on your door for any inspections.”

“Of course,” Emile and Remy spoke at the same time. Dee snickered.

The three of them left, got in the car, and headed to the local toy store. “This’ll kill two birds with one stone,” Emile said. “Because Patton and Virgil’s birthday is in three days.”

“Yeah,” Remy agreed. “If you want to pick out a present for each of the twins, I can keep an eye on Dee.”

“Sure,” Emile said.

They went inside and Dee was overwhelmed within ten seconds of entering. He hugged Remy’s leg as they moved through, until they got to a section with stuffed animals. Dee’s eyes were flitting everywhere until they stopped, completely fixated, and he ran halfway down the aisle to pick up a stuffed snake.

Remy walked over and ran a hand over the snake. “You like snakes, Dee?”

Dee nodded. “Scales,” he said, tapping his cheek where there was a small patch of eczema still. Then, he said, “Scales,” again, pointing to the snake.

“This snake might not have scales, but I see your point,” Remy said with a smile. “Is this what you want?”

Dee hugged the snake and nodded eagerly. Remy smiled. “Well then, we’ll get them. Is it a boy or a girl, do you think?”

All he got in return for that was a shrug. “Okay, fair enough,” Remy said. “Do they have a name already, or do you wanna think about it?”

Dee made a sign that went across his teeth and Remy frowned. “Teeth...? Oh! Do you mean fangs?”

An enthusiastic nod. Remy laughed. “Fangs, cool name. Let’s get Fangs.”

Dee grinned and they walked up to the front, Dee only parting from the snake for as long as it took to scan the animal’s tag. A tap on his shoulder had Remy turning to see Emile behind them. “So, I see Dee found something he liked,” he said.

“Yeah,” Remy said. “The snake’s name is Fangs, just so you know. You find stuff for the twins?”

“I found a Lego set for Patton,” Emile said. “And from a small selection of books I found some Goosebumps stuff. I figure Virgil would want to at least give those a go, and if he winds up not liking the one I chose it’s no big deal.”

“Yeah,” Remy said. “Put the stuff on the counter, let’s ring it up.”

They bought everything and Remy smiled as Dee climbed into the back of the minivan, snuggling his new snake. As they drove home, so Emile could look after Dee while Remy went to check on Sleep Easy, Remy discreetly observed Dee in the back. He looked entirely preoccupied with his snake, and while Remy knew Dee was sad about his mom, he was infinitely glad that Dee had decided to be with their family.